Lila somehow managed to learn the basics of water magic after Fen gave her a short demonstration. Once they finished fooling around with it, and the girl had enough of messing around with the wolf's fur, she finally calmed down.
"Fen, I'm getting kinda hungry." Having had her fill with fluffing up her furry companion, Lila noticed that her stomach was empty.
"Now that you mention it, I haven't eaten anything today either yet. Okay, let's go hunting right now!" He suddenly seemed super motivated.
"Ehh…" Lila didn't share his enthusiasm.
"Hunting's fun, you know!?"
"Of course you feel that way, Mr. Carnivore Predator." She rolled her eyes. "I don't quite feel it… Aren't there any alternatives?"
"Alternatives?"
"How about, you know, fruits or vegetables for me to eat?"
"G-Girl, don't tell me you're one of these humans that refuse to eat meat?!" Mr. Carnivore was fundamentally incompatible with individuals living a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.
"I can eat meat just fine… But hunting, on the other hand, is…"
"T-That's good, then." He was genuinely relieved. "Anyway, while there are some fruits in this area, I would advise against eating them."
"Why?"
"Basically, everything in this place is super poisonous. If a normal human tried anything from here, they would die an agonizing death within minutes. Well, you are no ordinary human, but it still doesn't sound fun, does it?"
"N-Not really…"
"Even worse are those nasty Rasputam fruits… Those are even capable of killing someone as great as I when eaten a few of them."
"Ras… what now?" Lila never heard this name before. "Or actually, they do sound slightly familiar… Maybe I remembered the name wrong?"
"Little red fruits with spikes all over their hull. Luckily, that makes them fairly recognizable. The tree they're growing on is also easy to identify because not many trees grow horizontally next to the ground… Man, rasputam... To make them even worse, they're supposedly delicious, meaning once you realize they're poisonous, it's already way too late."
"W-Wha…" Her face lost all color because the description of this fruit sounded oddly familiar.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, it just seems like I narrowly escaped death… again."
"Hmm?"
"You see, there's a fruit in my old world that looks exactly the same but is perfectly edible. So, when I spotted that rasputam thingy here… I almost tried it but stopped myself. This is a different world with different rules, after all…"
"You're quite lucky, aren't you?"
"I'm not sure about that." If anything, Lila was sure the exact opposite was true.
"Okay, with that being clarified, let's go hunting already!" Fen had enough of talking and wanted some action.
"Hunting animals by hand and eating them…"
"Girl, inferior beings are made to be eaten by the strong ones. There's no need to feel reserved about it." Being a huge and powerful carnivore, the entire world was an all-you-can-eat buffet for Fen.
"I don't think that's how it works… Wait a moment, Fen!" She noticed something disturbing in his claim.
"What is it now?"
"Earlier… you labeled humans as inferior beings as well… D-Don't tell me you eat them, too?!" Being one, or at least looking like a human, Lila naturally had to comment on that.
"Nah, they don't taste good at all." He made a slight grimace while admitting so.
"S-So you actually… did taste them…" She looked creeped out.
"Well… In the past, humans tried to attack and take me down all the time… As a matter of course, I defended myself, and I might've bitten off an arm… or an upper body during those times… Later on, I just blasted them into nothingness with my magic, and they stopped coming at me."
"I-I see… it couldn't be helped, huh…?"
"Exactly."
"Haa, as long as you don't want to try me." Lila didn't want to deal with the topic any more than that. Also, logically speaking, Fen wasn't the one in the wrong after all.
"I-I wouldn't taste a friend! Not to mention, with your dormant powers, you would be able to seriously hurt me in the process."
"That's good then."
"Anyway, girl, why are you so adamant about not wanting to hunt for food?"
"Well… I never hunted before… Most importantly, that also means you have to skin whichever animal I killed, right…? Not to mention messing with the innards and stuff… There's no way I could do that! Way too disgusting! Even just thinking about it makes me shudder!"
"Ahh, I see." Fen finally understood the real reason for her aversion. "Worry not, there's magic for that."
"Ehh…?"
"You can skin your game with magic. After all, even though I look like this, I don't enjoy eating fur personally. I don't like the mouthfeel."
"You're something else, Fen."
"Feel free to praise me more."
"That wasn't necessarily… Whatever, isn't magic way too omnipotent? Is it really supposed to be like that…?" She wasn't convinced that magic should work like that.
"The strong ones aren't bound to the rules and beliefs of the weak. Because we can manipulate magic directly, we can basically do whatever we want!"
"Being strong sure is convenient, huh?"
"You said it, Lila."
"Okay… fine…" She gave up. "Let's go hunt for some food." Her stomach had won. "Let's show the weaklings their place." Fen's mindset had already begun to corrupt the girl. "Ah, but nothing that looks cute, okay?!" It was a slow corruption, though.
"Well said, that's a compromise I can live with."
Having finally agreed to something, the two got up and left their comfy place in the shade of the tree, looking for prey.
"So… I never hunted before. Any advice for a first-timer?" While walking side by side through the plain, she addressed the wolf.
"Magic."
"That's your answer to everything, isn't it?"
"Naturally! I have perfected my detection magic, and I don't even need to mention how I'm confident in my attack skills, right?"
"Sure… Detection magic, is it? How does that work?"
"Easy! You just… uh…" Fen had problems describing his magic. "Just feel where your prey is!"
"Feel… you say… You aren't very good at this whole teacher thing, are you?" Lila couldn't work with such a half-baked explanation.
"Hmm… Ah, I found some nice prey. Lila, are you able to see the group of trees about half a kilometer away to your east?" He gestured across the plain.
"East?" She looked in the direction Fen mentioned and narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I do. What about it? Just some trees and a couple of bushes with orange fruits on it, from what I can see."
"You have quite the good eyes." He hadn't expected her to even make out the fruits.
"Yeah…" She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Before coming to this world, her eyesight wasn't nearly as good.
"Behind the bushes, there's some tasty prey hiding."
"Really?" Lila narrowed her eyes even more to identify whatever animal Fen was talking about. "Nope, all I can see are those bushes."
"You're not supposed to see, but to feel it!" He corrected her approach.