Chapter 321:
Food for Everyone
THERE WERE TWENTY-ONE MONSTERS in total that had gone berserk from magic energy and attacked Ciel. I was a little shocked by the high number, but Ciel looked awfully proud as it piled the corpses into a heap. I checked to see if the adandara was hurt, and it wasn’t. That’s my Ciel.
“Sol…are you really okay?”
I looked back and forth between Sol and the pile of monster corpses. No matter how I looked at it, Sol really did seem to consume far too much magic energy, even though that was all it ate. It wouldn’t accidentally go berserk, would it? Sol assured me that everything was fine, and Ciel and Sora backed it up, but I still couldn’t shake my concern. Yet, whenever I saw the hungry look in Sol’s eyes, I just couldn’t say no. I felt sorry for the poor creature.
“Okay, Sol! Do your thing.”
Since leaving the corpses with their magic energy at the scene would be dangerous, we had decided to burn them. If we just left them there, other monsters might suck up their energy and go berserk or mutate. But when we had Ciel heap the corpses into a pile so we could burn them, Sol stood in our way. It was still hungry.
“Pefu!”
Once I gave Sol permission, it lifted one of the monster corpses with a tentacle, moved it away from the pile, and swallowed the entire thing. Since I knew now that Sol was not actually eating the monster itself, I took a closer look at the process this time…but it really was hard to believe Sol was doing anything other than eating it whole.
Since I couldn’t just stand there and watch Sol eat, no matter how fascinating it was, I moved over a little bit to help Druid pitch our tent.
“It’s like a…mirage?” I tried to explain.
“You’re having Sol dispose of them all?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Well, since Sora and the others say Sol is safe, it shouldn’t go berserk or mutate.”
Druid’s opinion brought a smile to my face. He was a lot more trusting of my monsters’ judgment than he’d been when we first met. When we first set out on our travels, he was still full of insecurity. Well, not insecurity…more like bewilderment?
“What is it?” he asked, noticing my hard stare.
“Oh, nothing.”
We set up some magic-repelling items that Rose had given us as a farewell present around our tent. These items were special in that you could register monsters you didn’t want them to repel. Druid had looked quite surprised when Rose gave the items to us, so they must have been incredible.
After we finished setting up camp, I took in our surroundings. Sora and Flame were merrily bouncing around the dump, while Ciel was helping move the monsters over to Sol.
“Ciel sure is a good helper,” I observed.
“Yeah, every time I look, it seems to be helping someone with something.”
Since we were done setting up camp, we started making supper.
“Mr. Druid, is it possible to eat those monsters?”
“You…want to eat monsters that went berserk from magic?”
“But Sol took the magic out of them, right?”
If you can eat it, eat it! I’d learned that lesson when I was very small.
“Umm…yeah, I guess we can eat them.”
“No, it’s okay. If you don’t want to eat them, we won’t.”
When there was that much dread in his eyes, there was no way I could force him to eat the monsters.
Mewww, Ciel called out to me.
I looked over and saw that the monsters were no longer in their changed forms. The corpses in the pile were now much smaller.
Gee, you’re fast. I looked at Sol and noticed it had those symbols glowing on its body again. These were clearly different than the ones from last time.
“Mr. Druid, Sol’s gotten…”
“Yeah, it’s gotten bigger.”
Sol was indeed a little larger than before. With all the shrinking and growing, it sure had a chaotic life.
“Sol, are you doing okay?”
“Pefu! Pefu!”
Oh, good. It’s feeling fine. It also looks extremely satisfied. I looked away from Sol and toward the twenty-one monster corpses.
“What do you want to do with them?” I asked. Even though they had gotten a lot smaller than before, there were still so many of them that the pile was quite eye-catching.
“Let’s burn them. That many corpses are bound to attract the unwanted attention of other monsters.”
Mrrrow.
Ciel licked its chops. It stared at me for a moment, then returned its gaze to the pile of corpses.
“Um, would you like to have those monsters, Ciel?”
Mrrrow.
I guess Ciel is hungry, too.
“Are they safe to eat?”
Mrrrow.
“See, Mr. Druid? They’re fine!”
“Hey, Ciel, don’t you be so hasty now!”
Mew! Ciel yipped in discontent.
Druid sighed. “I’m sorry. Are those monsters safe for us to eat?” he asked.
Ciel gave him a funny look. I guess it doesn’t know.
“Ivy, I don’t think we can eat them.”
“I guess not. Too bad.”
If not even Ciel knew the answer, we couldn’t risk eating them. Especially when Sora was sitting next to Ciel and giving off the same reactions.
“So, you don’t know about me and Mr. Druid, but they’re safe for you to eat, Ciel?”
Mrrrow.
“Urrrgh, well, if you say they’re okay to eat, then I guess it’s safe. Okay, Ciel, have as many of them as you’d like.”
We’ll just burn the rest of the… Annnd Ciel carried off six at once.
“Ciel sure is strong,” I observed.
“I think it’s using magic.”
Oh, really?
“Okay, let’s get these burned up.”
“I’ll help.”
I think we’ll have to dig a hole in the ground. Maybe they’ll burn better that way…
“No, I’ll be fine alone. It’s easy.”
It’s easy? I looked at Druid. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the pile of corpses. Then the bodies burst into blue flames.
“Wow!”
“I had a hard time figuring out how to use the magic in this sword at first, but look at me now. I’m a natural, aren’t I?”
“Yeah! You look so dashing, Mr. Druid.”
“What?! Oh, uh, thanks.”
I looked at the blue flames. If I recall correctly, blue fire burns hotter than red. But what a beautiful blue it is. Hm? Y’know, I don’t notice that peculiar smell that comes from burning monsters. Before I could ponder this any further, the monsters all turned to ash.
“Wow, they burned up in the blink of an eye.”
I looked at Druid…and saw that his cheeks were a bit red. Maybe being so close to the fire had made him hot? But the flames from his sword were only hot if you got quite close to them, so it was hard to believe his face could have gotten hot that way.
“Yeah, the fire this sword makes is incredibly powerful. Anything you burn with it vaporizes in a matter of seconds.”
What a terrifyingly powerful sword Sora gave Druid. It had helped us out a great deal, though.
“Okay, should we get back to making supper?”
“Sure. Since it still gets cold at night, how about some nice, hot soup?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
I checked on my monsters as I cooked the soup. I could see Sora jumping around at the dump in the distance; it was probably still playing. Didn’t it ever get tired of that?
“Sora, you should think about coming back soon!”
Come to think of it, where’s Flame? I looked around the dump but didn’t see it anywhere. Maybe it had fallen asleep somewhere. I checked on the soup. It needed just a little more time on the heat, then it would be done. I’d already finished making the salad and our meat was cooking over a low flame, so I could leave the cooking area for a little while.
“Sora, do you know where Flame is?” I asked as I walked toward the dump. Ciel darted off somewhere and returned with something in its mouth. Then it carried its catch to me. Was it Flame?
“Aha, so you did fall asleep. Thanks, Ciel.” I took Flame from Ciel and returned to our tent. Sora and Ciel trailed after me.
“Ciel, you’re like a big sister to the slimes, aren’t you?”
Mrrrow.
Ooh, its voice bounced! I guess it was happy to hear that. I was starting to worry that Ciel was overburdened, looking after everyone else…
“Ciel, thanks for always taking care of everyone.”
I needed to make sure it knew how grateful I felt. That was very important.
Mrrrow!
“Oh! Um, Ciel? Maybe don’t move your tail like that. Your happiness means a lot to me, but our supper means something, too, you know.”
It was important for me to tell Ciel how I felt…but I shouldn’t have done it right before suppertime. What if our soup got spilled on the ground?!
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