Chapter 297

The next day arrived, and we gathered again at the shores of Leila.

Fortunately, the three who had vehemently opposed my words the previous evening quietly followed me without a word by morning.

Perhaps they sensed something different about me yesterday and decided to go along with it.

I felt both sorry for making them worry and grateful for their forced compliance.

Thus, we arrived at the shores of Leila in silence, where the early morning beach resembled the peaceful sandbanks before the monsters appeared.

We walked along the sandbanks, feeling the chilly winter sea air of Leila.

*Step, step*

“How long will it take?”

“About an hour… Is that okay?”

Lito, who had begged to be taken to the shore just yesterday, now asked in a cautious voice, perhaps trembling from the memory of yesterday’s monster attack.

I roughly ruffled Lito’s hair.

“Plenty. I won’t let the monsters touch even a fingertip of yours until then.”

“Thank you so much…”

“But this is the only time we’ll help. There won’t be a next time.”

“Yes, I know. Once is enough. I’ll pray for my dad’s safety just this once.”

Lito’s voice had calmed down, perhaps having learned something from yesterday’s events.

But though his voice was calm, the emotions within were anything but light compared to when he had stubbornly demanded to be taken to the shore yesterday.

If anything, they had settled and become even firmer.

As we talked, we arrived at a peculiar sandbank on the shore.

It was a spot unnaturally jutting out, offering the closest view of the sea.

“From here, we can see the sea… and thus, any ships returning to Leila the fastest.”

“Yes. Then I’ll begin.”

Lito knelt at the center of the spot, closed his eyes, and began to pray. Seeing this, we took our positions and started to guard the area.

Though no monsters were visible yet, it was only because there was nothing on the shore. Now that we, the tempting prey, had appeared, the Man-eating Crabs would soon show themselves.

…

…

…

For the first five minutes, no monsters appeared, and I began to hope it might end quietly. But around the five-minute mark, the Man-eating Crabs began to emerge from the sea, and we soon engaged in our first battle.

Lito, who had been praying with his eyes closed, flinched at the sound of magic explosions and clashing weapons but straightened up and refocused on his prayers after I shouted at him to concentrate.

By the time we defeated the first group of Man-eating Crabs, a second, larger group had already reached us.

But even the larger second group couldn’t stop my party and me, who had grown accustomed to hunting Man-eating Crabs. Soon, they too became part of the pile of corpses littering the sandbank.

Then came the third group.

And the fourth.

About fifty minutes passed.

“Haah… Haah… Is it finally over?”

“Hoo… Probably. With this many of their kind dead, they likely won’t approach anymore.”

“Then all that’s left is to wait for Lito’s prayer to finish.”

As the prayer neared its end, the Man-eating Crabs’ assault slowed, and my party finally had a moment to relax.

Though less skilled than me, the three had fought tirelessly against the relentless attacks and were utterly exhausted. Still, we had succeeded in keeping the Man-eating Crabs from reaching Lito, as promised.

Mari and Karina took a break, catching their breath, while Serena, who had been using magic excessively since morning, lightly grimaced and spoke to me.

“By the way, why are there so many Man-eating Crabs today? The number we caught in this hour seems similar to what we’ve caught in Leila so far.”

“Probably because this spot offers the best view of the sea, making it the most visible from the sea as well.”

“Ah… That makes sense. It’s exhausting, though.”

Though I had resolved not to back down after hearing Lito’s story, seeing the three suffer because of my stubbornness didn’t sit well with me.

“Sorry for forcing you to go along with this.”

“Don’t worry about it. You usually accommodate us a lot too.”

“Right! And we earn a lot of money for the trouble, so it’s not all bad.”

“It was tough, but we’ve gotten used to hunting Man-eating Crabs, so it wasn’t that dangerous.”

As I apologized in a subdued voice, the three waved it off, saying it was fine.

Yeah.

You three would say that.

“Still, thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re a team, after all. But…”

Mari, who had been speaking lightly, suddenly trailed off awkwardly.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just… I was wondering why you suddenly decided to help Lito.”

“The reason, huh?”

“Ah, no. You don’t have to say if you don’t want to…”

At my question, Mari flinched as if burned and continued in a small voice.

Not just Mari, but Karina and Serena were also looking at me cautiously.

“Y-you don’t have to force yourself to tell us! I was just curious!”

“Right! It’s not like we need to know or anything…”

Though their curiosity was evident, they quickly retracted their words, waving their hands, afraid of upsetting me.

Honestly.

If it were normal people, they’d be angry and demand an explanation for leading the party into danger without proper compensation…

But you three followed without question, endured all the hardships, and still act like this.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but smile as I sat down on a Man-eating Crab’s corpse and spoke.

“No, I’ll tell you. Since you’ve gone along with my stubbornness this far, it’s only fair.”

With that, I recalled my childhood.

…

…

…

It was when I was young.

Not too young, around fourteen… or so.

Like most Beastkin, Lizardmen grow faster than humans, and at that age, I was already more developed than a typical human fourteen-year-old.

But I wasn’t quite an adult yet, more like a human sixteen or seventeen.

Looking back, I was incredibly prickly at that time.

…

…

…

*Creak*

“…Reading strange books again?”

“Not reading, writing.”

“Writing? A book? You?”

“It’s been so long since I cooked that if I don’t record it in a book, I’ll start forgetting.”

“That’s strange talk. You’ve never cooked that much to begin with.”

Kurt’s father, Iot, said this as he picked up the book Kurt was writing and skimmed through it.

The sentences in the book were in a script Iot had never seen before.

Though Lizardmen generally only used writing for shamans and village chiefs, and Iot, being a regular hunter, wasn’t familiar with reading, the script was entirely foreign to him.

But Iot, having often visited the shaman’s hut, thought it was just a new script and continued skimming.

Fortunately, though he couldn’t read the words, each page had a drawing of a dish, making it somewhat enjoyable.

Some depicted dishes Lizardmen commonly ate, like bloody meat with bitter, dirt-covered herbs roughly served in a bowl, or stews with various ingredients.

But there were also many dishes of completely unfamiliar forms, whose cooking methods were a mystery.

“What’s this? You’re still writing? Give it back.”

“Hmm… You’ve certainly been working hard…”

Kurt looked displeased as Iot took his book, but Iot, finding it more interesting than expected, ignored Kurt and continued flipping through it.

“Hoh…”

After a while, Iot stopped at a page and showed it to Kurt.

“So, is this log also a dish?”

“Ugh. Give me the book back. Let me see…”

As Iot pointed to a page, Kurt, still annoyed, looked at the indicated part.

The page depicted what looked like a log chopped with an axe.

But it wasn’t just a log.

Realizing this, Kurt corrected him in a curt voice.

“No, this isn’t a log. It’s a buche de noel.”

“Different from a log?”

“Completely different! It’s a sweet dessert!”

“Sweet, huh… I don’t get it.”

“Of course not.”

But even with the explanation, Iot, with his limited concept of desserts and weak taste buds as a Lizardman, couldn’t understand and just looked puzzled.

Seeing this, Kurt, who had gone through this countless times, sighed and took the book back from Iot.

“…So, why are you here?”

“Training time.”

“Again today?”

“Not ‘again.’ Training is every day.”

“Tch. Fine. Just wait. Let me finish writing this.”

“Alright.”

It had been three years since Kurt started hunting training.

Though he had initially declared he would never become a hunter and still publicly claimed he would be a chef, over the three years, something had changed, and now he participated in training about three out of ten times when he was in a good mood.

Iot said this as he left Kurt’s room to gather hunting gear, and Kurt, after finishing his writing, reluctantly followed, clearly showing his displeasure as he left the hut for training.