Episode 38.

Chef Haitan I

But my own face probably looked exactly like that.

At that moment, Seigrena, whose expression was twice as ferocious as ours, strode forward.

"You're asking us to save you? Are you serious?"

"Ah, Lady Seigrena. That's—first, let me explain—"

"Explain my ass, you son of a bitch!"

So that was it. She was the one who taught Kria that foul mouth.

'No wonder the two of them kept whispering together so often ever since the Antworm hunt.'

At some point, Kria had apparently picked up Seigrena's rough way of speaking.

Of course, foul language aside, Seigrena's anger was justified. They had once been companions, so the psychological shock of being betrayed must have been far greater for her than for us.

"My lady, that's not what I—"

"Who are you calling 'my lady'?!"

With a crack, blood sprayed.

'Oof.'

That had to hurt like hell.

I never imagined she'd strike him in the face while wearing a gauntlet. To put it in perspective, it would be like getting hit across the bridge of the nose with an iron club.

Naturally, Alon let out a shriek and rolled on the ground, but Seigrena's fury was only just beginning.

"How dare you! How dare you! Abandon me? You son of a bitch! You worthless piece of dog shit! You goddamn, stupid, mongrel bastard!"

Thud, thud, crack!

Seigrena went after the fallen Spiritist and started stomping on him outright.

"Whoa......."

Even Kria flinched at that brutal sight.

No, was that admiration? I couldn't tell.

'Should I stop her?'

But somehow, I felt like interfering in the grudge between these two would be a terrible thing to do.

"W-wait...... my bone just got hit, gahk!"

"Die! Just die!"

"Guhk, gak, gahk......!"

No. At this rate, he really was going to die.

I stepped in around the time the area of blood streaming from the Spiritist's face grew larger than the exposed skin.

"That's enough. He's actually going to die at this rate."

"Huff, huff......!"

Seigrena panted with bloodshot eyes, then finally swallowed her anger and backed off.

"You......! Consider yourself lucky. If this were the kingdom, you'd be executed for the crime of abandoning a noble!"

Not even insulting a noble—what the hell was the crime of abandoning one?

Anyway, I looked at the Spiritist, who was bleeding profusely, and spoke.

"You said your name was Alon?"

"Ugh....... Y-yes......."

"Explain the situation as concisely as possible. In order, starting from after you abandoned us and left."

Something had clearly happened to the White Knight's party. That much was obvious from the fact that this bastard alone had rolled all the way back here.

But it was also true that it was hard to believe.

'At worst, it's just the <Woodman Habitat>.'

And the <Spore Kingdom> we were heading to wasn't much different in difficulty from the Habitat.

"Aside from <Wood Revenge>, there's nothing dangerous in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this area......."

The Spiritist said that. Even while bleeding profusely, his pronunciation was surprisingly precise. His teeth hadn't been knocked out, apparently.

"......That's the face of someone who thinks so."

"......."

"Yes....... Kazen was certainly right about you. You're...... eerily composed. Just what is your true identity?"

The moment a strange suspicion flickered in the Spiritist's eyes, Seigrena stepped in again.

"Hey, has this worthless commoner bastard still not been beaten enough......? Do you think you're in any position to ask us questions?"

"N-no, that's not it......."

The Spiritist crumpled in an instant.

......Having a designated bully on our side was convenient, but at this rate, Seigrena might end up developing a strange Trait.

The Spiritist, watching Seigrena's mood, opened his mouth.

"After we parted ways with you—"

"You didn't part ways. You abandoned us. You lowlife bastard."

"......After we abandoned you, we headed straight for the <Return Point>."

"Did you have a map? Or a guide?"

"Neither. But I had a contract with a forest spirit."

Ah. So he'd received help from a spirit.

Kria spoke, sounding surprised.

"Spirits can teach you the way?"

"It's a trick that only works at the forest's edge."

Of course, to Kria, who had only managed to contract with a single low-grade spirit, that would seem like a distant prospect.

"......At first, it went relatively smoothly. Magical Beasts appeared occasionally, but they posed no real threat. We steadily made our way toward our destination like that."

"Toward the <Return Point>?"

The Spiritist nodded.

"But when we arrived, someone was already there. And they'd even set up a proper stall."

"A stall...... you mean that stall I know?"

"Yes. It looked like a stall made by converting a four-wheeled carriage of the sort you'd see on the streets of the royal capital."

"Something like that in the forest. That's amazing......."

......A stall set up in the middle of the forest?

No way.

"The stall's owner was a man with a neat appearance. He looked like a young, successful chef from a famous restaurant. Except that in his h-hands, he was holding a large cleaver......."

From this point on, the Spiritist's voice trembled.

He let out a shaky breath, swallowed, and continued.

"......He said he'd just opened for business and held out a menu to us. But what was written on the menu......."

Seigrena, who had been listening quietly, seemed to grow curious and asked.

"What was on it?"

"......."

"Hey."

I signaled Seigrena with my eyes. His mental state clearly looked precarious; if we pushed him too hard here, he might break.

The Spiritist took several deep breaths, then continued in a cracked voice.

"......I thought it was some kind of strange joke, so I said something. Then the man's smile vanished completely, and he said—"

I had a good idea what the chef had said.

'I do not play games with food.'

"I do not play games with food."

The font that surfaced in my mind overlapped with the Spiritist's voice.

I let out a sigh. Hearing the story up to this point, I could already predict how things would unfold from here.

"The White Knight must have drawn his sword."

"How did you know?"

"Just answer."

"......Yes. You're right."

So it had gone down the worst possible path.

For me, and for the White Knight too.

"......Was it a few dozen seconds? Or maybe shorter than that. What's certain is that it didn't take a minute. There was a rapid exchange of blows at a point I couldn't follow, and the next moment, Sir Laurent's sword shattered and he was sent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flying backward. I only grasped the situation after Sir Laurent's body slammed into a tree."

"What......?"

Seigrena was horrified.

Naturally, she must have been the most shocked of all. She was the person here who knew best how strong the White Knight Laurent was.

"Sir Laurent...... no, Laurent lost? To a mere chef?"

Regrettably, he was no mere chef.

That monster was an outright anomaly, rated S even in my companion rankings.

Wasn't the ranking system supposed to stop at A-rank? Of course it was. So S-rank was a completely exceptional existence.

'Impossible to recruit.'

Through thousands of playthroughs, or more, there were NPC bastards who could never be recruited as companions under any circumstances.

'Chef Haitan.'

This one was special even among them. Among the S-ranks, who were mostly mental wrecks, he was the most refreshingly insane bastard, so to speak.

When I encountered him in the early game, even I ended up retrying nine times out of ten.

But.

"......That restaurant. Where did you say it was?"

"The <Return Point>."

Ha. Things were getting tangled up in the worst way again.

There are only a few <Return Points> on each map.

Generally, to activate the <Return Magic> built into an Exploration Crystal, the location must satisfy several strict conditions.

Those conditions were.......

One, sufficient mana flowing beneath the ley line—

Two, the sky openly visible within a certain radius—

Three, a place that Magical Beasts are reluctant to approach.

At first glance, the conditions seem easy, but once you actually wander through the forest, they aren't.

Finding a clearing is difficult in such dense woodland, and even if you do find one, it's useless unless enough mana flows through the ley line beneath ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.

Even if those two conditions are met, any traces of Magical Beasts make the whole thing useless.

The Spiritist spoke, trembling.

"......We can't go back there."

"......."

"When Sir Laurent fell, his companions counterattacked. They were all taken down in an instant, and I was the only one who managed to escape, since I was relatively far in the rear. Barely, with the spirit's help......."

What an idiot.

"You're sorely mistaken."

"What?"

"If that man truly had the skill to subdue the White Knight, do you think you could have escaped just because you were in the rear?"

"That's......!"

The Spiritist, who had been about to say something, closed his mouth. He apparently couldn't think of a rebuttal.

"Anyway, going back there is dangerous."

Kria, who had been listening, spoke.

"What happened to the people left behind......? My brother......."

"I don't know."

"......"

"But before the fight, Sir Laurent must have felt uneasy about that chef, because he asked him something. Whether he could see the kitchen......."

The Spiritist shook his head.

"He refused. With his expression completely hardened. Naturally, Sir Laurent couldn't accept that. He said the smell of blood was too strong, and that he would see the kitchen even if he had to use force. Then the bastard looked at us and said—"

The Spiritist spoke with a grim face.

"Are you customers, or ingredients?"

"......."

"That bastard's eyes were completely gone. He was looking at the world through pure madness......!"

His bloodshot eyes turned toward me.

"We can just go to a different Return Point......! You all have Exploration Crystals too, don't you?!"

"We do. But where else?"

"I don't know that, but...... this forest is huge. There's more than one Return Point, isn't there?"

I showed him the map I'd received from Haarim.

"This is a map of this part of the forest."

"A map? Where did you get that—"

"Never mind that. Look here, Spiritist. There are two Return Points closest to us. One is the place you just fled from."

A clearing located exactly at the midpoint between the <Spore Kingdom> and the <Woodman Habitat>.

And the location of the other one was.......

"......The <Abandoned Cemetery>."

He did know, apparently. Alon's expression hardened as well.

"You know it too. At our current level, that's a zone we can't break through."

"What about a completely different Return Point? For example, if we cut across to the north and then enter a separate region—"

"Regrettably, we don't have time for that. Our Exploration Crystals' lifespan won't hold out that long."

I showed him my Exploration Crystal as proof, and the Spiritist's face fell.

"A L-Lowest-Grade Exploration Crystal....... Fuck."

"......."

He had no rebuttal. His judgment seemed temporarily clouded by fear, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he had experience as a Delver.

There were only two options anyway.

One was a resting place of the dead teeming with monsters, and the other was a place where a monster wearing a human skin lay in wait.

The positive point was that this one could at least be reasoned with.

'In that case.......'

As always, we had to go where the odds of survival were even a sliver higher.