Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 66.2: The Trapped Adventurer III – (2)

Otou-san stepped forward by himself.

He sheathed his longsword at his waist and held his round shield at the ready like a frisbee.

Ordinary frog-heads detected enemies via sight. But as it had lost its sight, this one probably used its hearing.

To confirm that, Otou-san threw a random stone.

When it hit the fountain, the frog-head shot out its tongue and caught it.

Compared to the earlier one, the movement of this one’s tongue was several times faster. I could only see its afterimage.

However, the one even faster than that, was Otou-san.

He threw the round shield.

I couldn’t even see the afterimage.

I heard the thud of iron piercing into flesh, and blood splattered onto the ground.

Its tongue had been sealed.

The Chochos left the frog-head’s hand and headed straight for Otou-san.

「I’ll teach you something for future reference. For guys that form colonies like this, there’s always one that’s in charge of being their “eyes”」

He took out a knife.

There was a flash of silver.

Sharper than an arrow, it pierced through one of the Chochos.

The colony fell apart and the Chochos all rolled onto the ground.

「And, when that one is killed, they stop moving temporarily」

He pulled out his longsword and swung it like he was mowing grass or something. He easily cut down all of the hungry Chochos.

The frog-head swung its long arms like whips.

One swing of the longsword cut off both arms.

That looked very easy.

For humans, their brains simplify phenomena that cannot be understood so that they can process them.

Walking normally, Otou-san approached the frog-head and thrust his longsword home into its head. He pulled out the longsword and stabbed its head again to be doubly sure.

He retrieved his knife and shield.

「It’s over」

Umm.

This person, he just defeated them normally.

「Souya, dispose of their corpses. After that, prepare food. I’ll lay some simple traps around us」

「Oh, okay」

That’s so amazing that I couldn’t understand it at all. He is on another level.

After calling the party over, I had everyone rest. I left the preparation of food to my sister.

I piled up the corpses in the passageway, and then burned them after soaking them in oil. For some reason, they smelled pretty good. The frog’s meat seemed edible, but……

「That guy’s poisonous. Also, the wilted Chochos are all skin and bones, so there’s nothing to eat」

……I was given a warning by Otou-san, who had returned from checking our surroundings.

「These frogs, where do they accumulate the poison?」

「If I remember correctly, the poison is accumulated in the holes near the back of their eyes」

「In that case, that poison is a defense against predation, isn’t it?」

「That’s right. These guys don’t use the poison as a means of attack」

「Then, its limbs should be edible, right?」

「You……… It may be a monster, but you eat bipedal creatures?」

「Chickens are also bipedal, you know? Also, you eat chicken eggs quite often, don’t you?」

「Eggs are different. They have no legs, right?」

In this alternate world, they have a custom of not eating bipedal creatures. That’s the reason why, even though there are chickens, they don’t eat much of them.

I was quite surprised when I found out that even the chicken eggs sold by the merchant company are treated as bizarre foods. They are bizarre foods that even the king eats though.

「So, Souya, are you going to eat them, these frog limbs?」

「I’ll leave that for another time」

We’re in a hurry today, and I have to recover from my fatigue too.

When we returned to the open space, I saw that a large tarp had been spread out and everyone was sitting on top of it.

Placed in front of everyone were several packs, which were gray in color. All nine of them were swelled up, and steam was blowing out of them.

「What on earth is this?」

Just like Otou-san, everyone in the party also had dubious expressions on their faces. My sister, who had eaten one before, was exuding smugness from her whole body.

They were combat rations of the Self-Defense Force.

Just by pouring water in, the chemical agent would heat up and warm the retort pack inside. Even though it was an emergency, relying on something like this was a humiliation.

Otou-san and I also sat down.

Once I sat down, the fatigue hit me all at once. I was more exhausted than I had thought. I had overdone it while being strangely conscious of Otou-san.

Beep, beep, went a timer.

Stopping the timer on her wristwatch, my sister spoke with a self-satisfied look.

「Fuffu~n, this is something wonderful that lets you eat hot food just by adding water. It’s precious food that I have less than a hundred of left, so eat it gratefully, got it?」

My things are also my sister’s things, it seems.

「I’ll show you all what to do, so imitate me」

Ea opened the pack and poured out the hot water.

She gingerly took out the retort packs inside. There were two packs of rice and one each of hamburger curry and ginger-fried pork.

「For the rice packs, remove the lid on top, and then pour the unsealed side dish onto it. After that, eat it with a spoon! That’s it」

My sister poured the hamburger curry over her rice and lost no time in bolting it down.

Everyone in the party also imitated her and started eating.

「It’s really nice and hot. The pork is delicious. …………Can this be reproduced using magic, I wonder?」

「Ojou-sama, by all means, let’s do it. And if we sell it, we’ll make a killing」

The Brave and the maid were eating their food with wicked-looking expressions.

Gashuraku-san was eating with his back to all of us.

「I’m fine with eating this every time」

「………………」

「………………」

Shuna was eating in high spirits. Rana and Lys were eating wordlessly.

「Hm~m. It’s certainly delicious, but it’s lacking in richness and spiciness」

「You’re something of a curry expert, aren’t you?」

My sister is very good at learning things that she’s interested in. She has become pretty good at making udon and curry. It’ll make me happy if she continues to increase her repertoire like this.

「That’s right. But everyone other than Lanseal can’t stand spiciness, so I had a hard time, you know? It’s because, even though it’s more delicious if the spices are mixed in and properly cooked together with the food, I had to sprinkle the spices in my share only every single time. Oh, in the process of making the spicy spice mixture, I was able to reproduce the Shichimi. To think that the clincher was the seeds of a narcotic, of all things」

「You’re amazing, you know?」

Seeds of a narcotic, she said. Oh, is she talking about poppy seeds?

「Next, I’ll try to make a soup stock for udon noodles. That granular stuff that Onii-chan brought here is convenient, but extracting the flavors from the ingredients will make it more delicious. I’ve asked Geto-san for some seaweed, so I think they will be there at the camp when we return. I’ll also work on the dried small fish」

「You’re really amazing, you know?」

Until a while ago, you were shaky even when adding hot water into instant ramen. How fast you’ve grown.

「Hey, Souya」

「How is it, Otou-san. Do you like it?」

I had forgotten because I was engrossed with talking to my sister.

「You didn’t seem to need it, so I ate one」

Otou-san had devoured his food quickly. He had already finished his own share, had poured my curry over one of my rice packs, and was eating it.

「You, you scoundrel!」

It felt like he would also eat what remained of my share if I wasted time complaining, so I poured the ginger-fried pork over the rice and ate it.

Pork covered in sweet and spicy sauce, and Chinese cabbage. And then rice.

They were calories that permeated through my tired body.

No matter how depressed or tired I am, eating rice will make me feel better.

「Medimu, do you want some of this in your curry? It’s delicious」

With a mischievous look on her face, my sister took out her specially-made spicy spice mixture.

「Alright, thanks」

Otou-san didn’t notice, and held out his curry to her.

Shuna, who had fallen victim to it once, pulled a long face.

Red powder was sprinkled from the small bottle in Ea’s hand, and then Otou-san gorged the curry down with gusto.

「Hmm, ohh. It’s quite……」

His face was calm, but sweat was flowing from his forehead.

Ea, about your special-made spice mixture. The truth is, I have one bottle of it on me too. Because it can be used to blind the monsters.

「How is it? It’s delicious, right?」

My sister asked Otou-san with a broad grin on her face. She definitely did it on purpose.

「Umm, it’s, so, so」

He gulped down the curry in one go, and then drank all the water in his water bottle in one shot. His face had turned bright red.

It’s a spice mix that’s too early for Hemus. Rana, who’s an elf as well, had also screamed in pain though.

After we finished eating, Lazarissa prepared tea for us.

It had a nice aroma. I didn’t know much about tea, but it calmed me down.

「Rana, Frey-sama. Have some of these」

I gave the two magicians a bag of sweet hardtack each. They came with apricot jam in dropper containers.

「They restore Rana’s magic power, but it should do the same for Frey-sama as well」

「Oh, sweets? Such good taste, to serve this with tea」

「Thank you very much. But I’ve not used any magic power, so――」

「Then I’ll have it」

Lys snatched the bag of hardtack that Rana was giving back to me.

「Wait, Lys. You have almost infinite magic power――」

「WASHAA!」

She hissed at me with bared teeth.

I don’t quite get you, but you’re a presence with divinity, right? Are you really okay with this?

「Souya, where’s my share?」

「Where’s my share?」

I ignored the boy and the old man.

「How is it, Lazarissa?」

Frey was munching down the crispy hardtack. She looked like a noble squirrel. Lazarissa took Frey’s regeneration point and checked her magic power.

「Ojou-sama, this food is amazing. Your magic power is recovering rapidly」

「To think that you would serve rare sugar confectionery, well done, Nutria-san」

It seems that sugar restores magic power even in Hemus. Is this thing called magic power related to mental fatigue, I wonder?

「Alright, you guys」

Otou-san waved his hand and got everyone’s attention.

「We’ll take a two-hour break here」

He placed a big hourglass on the ground.

「Individually check your own equipment. Check your regeneration point visually. Also, to see if there are any abnormalities with your bodies, form groups of two or more people and check one another. I’ll keep watch. You guys try to get a little sleep. After the break, we’ll descend all the way to the 20th floor without stopping. Prepare yourselves properly for that」

The party followed Otou-san’s orders.

I inspected my equipment, and then went around checking everyone’s regeneration points. No problems there. With my sister, we checked each other for abnormalities with our bodies. No problems here either. Rana had Frey check her.

Once that was finished, everyone got into a comfortable position and relaxed.

I laid down, using my backpack as a pillow.

I’ll try to get some sleep, even for a little while.

「Nfufu~」

My sister snuggled up and hugged me.

She has been unusually clingy recently. Even though she’s my sister, I feel guilty towards Rana. But once we finish this safely and I get King Lemuria’s testimony, I’ll be able to make up my mind about everything. I’ll just have to bear it until then.

It had been smooth sailing so far.

It’ll be great if it ends in this manner, I prayed.

Is it ironic that the god I’m praying to is the god of misdeeds, I wonder?

And… whut? That went much easier than expected. Otou-san is really one of those OP limited time characters in old RPGs lol. And if you were puzzled why Souya commented on him defeating them normally, it’s because Otou-san’s warning on the maps said that they must be separated before fighting them, and he didn’t.

Haha, spices so spicy that Souya brought them along to blind monsters. Now that there are more and more people who can cook, Souya has definitely been cooking less, hasn’t he? In case anyone forgot, Shichimi is a spice mixture containing 7 spices, also known as seven-flavor spice.

Also, the Japanese eat their ground meat patties with rice, rather than bread. So when they refer to hamburger, like in this case, it’s usually just the patty itself. And the Japanese “hamburger” is a bit like Hamburg steak or Salisbury steak, the former being said to be the origin of the word hamburger in the first place.

And… Souya has obviously jinxed it, hasn’t he? One more chapter to go in this arc, and then the 19th floor will have an entire arc to itself. Told you that it was going to be a long dungeon crawl, didn’t I? Stay tuned!