While riding on Hati's back, I decided to ask him something that was on my mind. By the way, Groot was quietly sleeping on my shoulder.
"Hey Hati, how long is it going to take us to get out of this forest?" When I told Hati I wanted to go to Leonhardt, he said that cutting through the forest would get us to the eastbound road faster, so I just went with him, but it's already been one week since we've entered the forest.
"It will still take some time because I am slowing down as per your orders. It would have been faster if I could go as fast as I liked, though."
'Ah well, if that's the case, I'm happy to go slower.' Going at Hati's speed was out of the question — if we went at that speed, I'd be thrown off.
"Even so, this is still faster than going through the road you humans have made." 'Ah? Is that so?'
"This forest contains the territories of both the orthrus and the griffon. Due to that fact, the road the humans made takes a large detour around the area, and thus takes a lot longer to travel."
'Huh? Have my ears gone bad?' I felt like I'd just heard him say something I shouldn't have. He said, "orthrus," right? He said, "griffon," right? 'Wasn't the orthrus that two headed dog monster? And if I recall, griffons have the front half of an eagle and the back half of a lion, right?' I thought back on the illustrations of the orthrus and griffon from games and novels.
'THOSE ARE BOTH BOSS-CLASS MONSTERS'
"Why are we even going through this forest if you knew that this was the territory of both the orthrus and the griffon?" Wouldn't it make sense to avoid this area like the plague if monsters like that existed?
"You are being annoying. Neither orthruses nor griffons are worthy to be mine enemies." 'I don't care if they're your enemies or not, it's an orthrus and a griffon!'
"I remember telling you this before, but the only thing that can fight on equal grounds with me are beings on the same level as ancient dragons. Both orthruses and griffons fall short of that. Not to mention, those monsters know this fact. If any were to come and challenge me, they would have to be young and fearless."
'Hm? Wait a second...'
"Wait, from the way you talk, it's almost as if there's more than one orthrus and griffon..."
"What are you saying? Both the orthrus and griffon territories are also their breeding grounds. Of course there would be several."
'WHAAAAT?! You should say these important things first!'
Of course, this wouldn't be an option if there were multiple boss-class monsters around. Even if there were only one, normally the option would be right out. And there were several... 'No good, this is no good!'
"H-Hey... Let's avoid their territories, okay?" 'Yeah, that way is best. For my sanity.'
"Why must we avoid them? Of course we are going to keep going. Also, we are already in the orthruses' territory."
"Whaaat? S-Say those things first!!"
"That is why I told you now. Really, just what are you afraid of?" Saying that, Hati kept proceeding forward.
"Hahhhhhh~" I couldn't help but sigh. Well, it was Hati, I guess there was no helping it. He was too strong, so from Hati's point of view, neither orthruses nor griffons could even raise a fang against him. But for me, just thinking that I might meet an orthrus or a griffon made me want to piss my pants in fear. 'I mean, it's an orthrus or a griffon, you know?'
'A wimp,' you say? 'That's fine with me. Most people would be scared if they came face to face with one. The only ones who would be fine being near something like that would be strong ones like Hati.'
I continued to turn it over in my head. 'It might just be true that with Hati around, they wouldn't come attacking, but even still, I didn't even want to see them. And from what Hati said, we were already in orthrus territory, too...'
'Don't you dare come out, orthrus...'
It seemed that the orthruses understood that Hati was stronger, at least. 'Ah, but didn't Hati say that young orthruses might come to challenge him?'
'No, no way... Just stay quiet like this, orthrus...'
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The next day...
"We will be entering the griffons' territory shortly."
My heart skipped a beat at Hati's statement. 'So the griffons' territory is finally here. Man, I don't wanna go in...'
"Make sure our barrier is properly in place, okay?"
"I understand. Do not worry."
'That's not gonna stop me from worrying, you know?' They were griffons, after all.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We were in the griffons' territory. So far, we had not caught sight of any griffons. 'It would sure be nice if we got through their territory without meeting any.'
Three days into the griffons' territory.
At last, a griffon showed itself. A single griffon landed before us with a flapping of its outstretched wings.
In my case, I was so surprised I couldn't even speak. Seeing a griffon, live, in front of me, almost had me wetting my pants.
At any rate, the griffon was huge. With the front half of an eagle and the rear half of a lion, it was even bigger than Hati. Said large griffon suddenly bowed and lowered its head.
"Oh great Fenrir, I have, a request," the griffon intoned in halting speech.
"I-It talked?!" I had thought that the only beasts that would be able to speak human language would have to be something on the same level as Hati, so I was surprised. Groot was capable of telepathy, but that was probably only because we were a bonded master and familiar, and it could communicate telepathically with Hati for much the same reason, that they were both my familiars.
'Griffons can speak, too...'
"It is not able to speak human language because it is a griffon, all right? This one simply has especially high intelligence."
"Ah, I see."
"The only ones that would be able to speak human language fluently would be something like me, or an ancient dragon." 'Got it.'
"Great Fenrir, correct, human words, speak, only me." 'Then, this is the only griffon that can speak?'
"Leader of the pride, to become, trial, with me, fight, please." 'Hmm? Did he just say that he wanted to fight Hati as a trial to become the leader of his pride?'
"Strong, great Fenrir, fight, everyone, me, acknowledge." 'Fighting with a strong Fenrir will get everyone to acknowledge it as their pride's leader? Hmmー this griffon's got guts.'
"Very well. I will be your opponent. However, I cannot hold back."
"I know."
Groot and I fell back to safety. As I hopped off of Hati's back, I said, "Don't kill him" in his ear, but he only twitched a little, and didn't respond.
'He said that he couldn't hold back, will that griffon be okay?'
Hati faced off with the griffon. "Well then, here I come."
Taking Hati's words as a signal to begin, the griffon opened its large wings and ascended into the sky, launching countless black, arrow-like objects from on high. Hati dodged those projectiles like he was dancing.
Looking closely at what the griffon had shot at Hati, I found that they were feathers. They must have been extremely hard, as they had pounded a rock that was bigger than a volleyball into dust. "Woaahh, amazing..."
This time, Hati launched magic at the griffon that was still in the air. 'Is that Wind magic?' A small tornado manifested around the airborne griffon. The griffon was caught in the tornado and forced into a tailspin...
Not only that, but it seemed like the tornado had blades in it (the magic itself seemed to me to be a higher version of the wind cutter spell), and the tornado was gradually stained red with the griffon's blood. Isn't that griffon in danger?
"H-Hey, Hati, you've gone too far!"
"Hmph." The tornado dissipated, and the griffon Fell to the ground with a thud. I immediately rushed over to the griffon and splashed Groot's special high-grade potion onto it.
"I did say that I could not hold back."
'You did, but there's something called a 'limit,' you know?! What the hell was that tornado? Don't just go shooting off such cruel magic like that.'
"Mm..." The griffon opened its eyes.
"Hey, are you all right?"
"Ahh... my wounds... "I am fine, sorry."
'Whew, that's good.'
"Lost, unable, do anything..." The griffon hung its head sadly. It looked like the griffon didn't expect to be able to win against Hati, but also didn't think it would lose without putting up much of a fight.
It is a 'boss-class griffon, after all'. It should be a monster that was strong even by this world's standards.
'For Hati to win so completely with just a single spell...He really is just completely overpowered for this world. Hm? Huh?' I realized it as I looked over at Hati.
"You didn't do nothing, you know. Look, there." I pointed at a section near Hati's shoulder. There was a faint bit of red blood welling up out of the white-silver fur.
"He probably got that from your first attack. It's only a scratch, but you managed to wound a legendary Fenrir. Isn't that right, Hati?"
"Grrrr, I hate to admit it, but that is true."
Having heard Hati's words, the griffon raised its head with a start. "I-I did, to Great Fenrir...... Pihyororororo!!" The griffon suddenly raised a cry towards the sky.
When I looked up, there were several tens of griffons heading this way.
"W-Woah! W-What?!" Just one griffon was intimidating enough, several tens of them would be crushing. Or rather, I was just ridiculously scared.
The horde of griffons landed behind the griffon that fought Hati... and lowered their heads.
"I, leader, acknowledged."
'Oohh, I see, I see, that's great.'
"Great Hati, thank you, very much." 'Sure sure, this kind of thing is nice.'
"Human, this, give." For some reason, the griffon plucked one of its own feathers and gave it to me.
'Is this thanks for healing him with a potion?' Griffon feathers seemed like they'd be an expensive item. I accepted it graciously.
"Also, human, you, next time here, not eat."
'Yeah, not sure if I should be happy or just scared. It said they wouldn't eat me, so that means that griffons eat humans. There's no way I would come this way again after hearing that!'
"Hati, let's hurry up and go."
"Agreed."
Returning Groot to my bag, I climbed onto Hati again. In these situations, it was better to leave quickly. 'What a rowdy bunch of griffons.'
"We are through the griffons' territory."
"Ohhh, finally." We didn't see any griffons other than the talking one that challenged Hati, but hearing that they ate humans had my teeth on edge the entire time. So, I was understandably relieved to hear that we'd left their territory.
"How long until we're out of the forest?"
"It should not be long now that we are this far. Probably around two days."
Ohh, finally out of the forest, huh? And then just two more towns and we'll be in the dungeon town Leonhardt.
"Hati, Are we going straight to Leonhardt?"
"I do not know which town. However, this is the forest to go through when heading to the eastern ocean. Is east not our destination? If it is, we are fine."
'*Sigh* Leaving it all to Hati was a mistake.'
Judging from Hati's words, the forest we went through was part of a great wooded region but...
'I'll have to ask someone once we get out of the forest, huh?'
It would be nice if there would be someone to ask.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
"Let's stop here for the day." I told Hati when I noticed that the sun was setting.
"That is a good idea. I am hungry, as well."
'Of course he is.'
We were almost out of the forest, and I had gotten fairly used to riding on Hati's back, so I agreed to Hati's request to go a little faster.
'Hmm, then I guess I should make something that fills people with energy. If that's the case, then that seems perfect. I'm talking pork cutlets.'
Personally, I had always eaten meat when I absolutely needed to succeed at something, and at those times, of course, pork cutlets are my meat of choice. 'I should still have some orc meat left...'
After looking through my Item Box, I found that I did, in fact, still have some orc meat left. 'Good, let's get Hati to do his best after eating some pork cutlet. But first, I'll need to buy the rest of the ingredients, huh? Uhh, I have salt and pepper, and also eggs. I have cooking oil too... all I need is panko and flour. Oh, I also need to get cabbage and cutlet sauce. And pork cutlets need rice, don't they?'
I bought what I needed through my Online Supermarket. Now I had everything.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
First, steam the rice, and mince the cabbage before washing it.
From there, cut the orc meat into thick pieces, and soften the meat with the back of the knife after cutting the muscle fibers.
After lightly seasoning the orc meat with salt and pepper, coat with flour and dust off any excess. Then, coat the pieces with a layer of egg wash, then panko, and repeat the coating process again. Coating twice ensures the crispiness, so that is what I always make sure to do.
All that is left is to cook both sides until they are a nice light brown. The cutlets make a nice, crisp sound when cut into strips with the knife. Man, it looks good~
Lay the pork cutlet on a bed of minced cabbage on a plate, and the dish is complete.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
"It's done"
Hati and Groot came over instantly.
'Let's just pour on the cutlet sauce, aaannd' "Here you go, guys. It's hot, so be careful."
Right as I said that, Hati bit into the food anyway. "Hot, hot! But it tastes great! Hot!"
Groot seemed to be fine with the heat, and absorbed the entire thing all at once. {Yeah, it's delicious!}
'Yeah, pork cutlets are the best for motivation.' I was happy, too, that the food got favorable reviews.
'Right, let's eat.'
'*Crunch* Oohhh, having pork cutlet after such a long time makes it taste even better. Next, with rice — pork cutlet combined with rice is unbeatable. Ah, I want some miso soup now. If I remember right... There it is, found it.'
I had indeed bought some instant miso soup, so I took it out and made it. 'Cutlet, rice, miso soup, cutlet, rice, miso soup, and then, some cabbage for variety... Hahhh, delicious.'
"Hey, seconds."
{Groot tooー}
'Sure, sure.' Pressured by Hati and Groot, I was forced to fry up a mountain of pork cutlets. I had thought that there might be enough for another meal, but in the end, they ate all the orc meat I had left.
'Both Hati and Groot really are huge eaters...'
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Hati raised his speed. I could see blue sky from gaps in the canopy now.
"Yes! We're out!!" We broke out of the forest into a wide plain.
Finally, after a month of travel, we had cleared the forest.
"Hahh, finally, we can say goodbye to this forest." 'It feels good to be in a big open space... Wait, where are we? Is there a road somewhere?' "Hati, you've been through here before, right?"
"Yeah."
"Is there a man-made road near here?"
"A road? There should be one a little further ahead."
"Then, can you head for it?"
"Why?"
"Judging from what you've said Hati, I think this should be right way, but I'd feel safer if we confirmed that by asking somebody. Not to mention, we're almost out of meat, so we'll need to go into town soon."
"Out of meat?! Then this is an emergency. A road, right? I will head there immediately." 'Ah, so running out of meat really is a disaster, according to Hati.'
Just as Hati said, we found the road in no time. It would be nice if we could also find somebody to talk to along the way.
While moving along the road on Hati's back, I saw a carriage far off in the distance.
"Ah, people..." I could faintly hear voices cutting in and out. To be able to hear their voices from this far away, they must have been yelling quite loudly.
"It looks like that carriage is being attacked by thieves."
Huh? Th-Thieves?!
"F-Hati! Go save them! I'll make an extra-special dinner for you!" I offered that in the heat of the moment. All I could think of then was that I needed to save them.
"Those words, do not forget them!" Saying that, Hati raised his speed and charged towards the carriage.
The carriage was already right ahead of us. The adventurers, probably hired as guards, were in front fighting against an ill-mannered looking group of men that anyone could tell were thieves at a glance.
The thieves were more numerous, and the adventurers were being pushed back.
"Cover your ears." I did as Hati said and covered my ears. "AWOOOOOOooooooo!!"
Even through my hands, my body instinctively froze hearing Hati's howl. The adventurers and thieves that heard Hati's howl unguarded were frozen absolutely stiff.
Groot crawled out of my bag.
{Master what happened?}
"There were bad people around, so Uncle Hati punished them."
{Eh? Really? Groot wants to do it too}
"You do? Then, can you shoot your Acid Bullet at the men there and there who are holding weapons? It would be better if the bullet is small. I want you to make it so they can't hold their weapons anymore."
{Okay}
*Sploosh* *sploosh* *sploosh* *sploosh* *sploosh*
"GYAAAHHH!!"
"GUOOHHHH!!"
"GAAAHHHH!!"
"GYA!"
"GIIYAAAAHH!!"
The thieves whose arms were hit by Groot's Acid Bullets cried out.
It seemed like Groot's Acid Bullet had leveled up or something. Groot wasn't just shooting acid like a water gun, it was more like a high-speed jet of acid — almost a beam.
"You thieves, if you move one step, I will eat you whole. If you understand, throw away your weapons."
The thieves who weren't being attacked by Groot were turning blue in the face at the sight of Hati baring his fangs at them. They all threw down their weapons. Only the largest one among the thieves didn't listen to Hati, and swung away with his axe.
"Don't go spewing your nonsense when you've just appeared out of nowhere!" The man swung at me. I reflexively raised my arms to cover my head.
*Fsshhh*
*Blort*
Opening my eyes because the impact never came, I found that the axe man had been killed in such a grotesque way that the sight of his corpse made me want to barf.
*Hurp*
I really was about to throw up. Not only had he taken Hati's Rending Claws head on, but he was also hit with Groot's Acid Bullet... One could imagine what the body looked like. He deserved what he got for breaking the law like he did, but I'd never want to die like that.
The thieves who had completely lost their will to fight after seeing how the axe man died quietly let themselves be bound with rope. The ones who took care of that were the adventurers that had recovered from earlier. Since help had come relatively quickly, none of the adventurers were seriously hurt.
After that task was done, a male adventurer and a merchant that was in the carriage approached me.
"My name is Lambert, and I am a merchant from the town of Karelina. Thanks to you, all of us and my goods are safe. Thank you so much for saving us." The one who said that and bowed deeply was a well-mannered old man who looked from his build to be in his mid-forties.
"I'm the leader of the adventurer party that's guarding this merchant caravan, 'Phoenix.' My name is Lars. Thanks for the help." The man who said that and bowed as well was taller than 180 centimeters and brawny, with red hair. He looked like the very picture of an adventurer around the age of 30.
"Don't worry about it. We just happened to be passing by... My name is Hajime."
"So, are those over there your familiars?" Lambert asked that while looking at Hati and Groot with a fearful tone in his voice.
"Yes, they're my familiars. It's fine, they won't harm any of you." When I said that, Lambert put on a relieved face.
"That familiar is a Fenrir, isn't it... So the rumors were true." Lars muttered under his breath while looking at Hati. 'The rumors have already spread this far?'
"According to rumors in the wind, there's an adventurer with a Fenrir as his familiar. I thought it was just a tall tale and didn't pay it any mind, but..." 'Well, normally you'd think that, right? But it's actually true.'
If the rumors had spread this far, then it would only be a matter of time until I was found out. Case in point, it looked like Lars knew with just one look at Hati. 'Just as I thought, Hati would be my biggest concern. Just by having him around, I'll have to worry about people butting into my business, won't I?'
I had a feeling that no matter what came to pass, everything would turn out fine because of Hati's presence. I'd be crushed by anxiety otherwise.
"By the way, where are you all going?" 'It's time for my 100% success rate conversational evasion skills. I'll never admit that Hati is a Fenrir!'
"We were in the middle of returning to Karelina." 'So they're in the middle of returning to home base after a job, I see. We need to go to a town anyway, so I wonder if we can ride along?'
{Hati, Groot, this place seems to be our goal, Leonhardt, so want to try going to Karelina?}
{To procure meat, right? I am fine with that.}
{Groot is fine too}
Hati and Groot seemed to be on board.
"To tell you the truth, Lambert, we've just arrived, so we're not really familiar with the area. If possible, can we join you guys on the road to Karelina?"
When I brought that up, Lambert happily agreed with a smile. "It would be very reassuring to have you with us. It's us who want you to travel along." Like that, we set off toward our next goal, the town of Karelina.