Miya's Bounty
Miya gathered up the severed limbs and leaped lightly down to land beside me. The tide pool rock I stood on was roughly ten meters high, yet she cleared it without effort. She didn't even make a sound when she landed. That was proof she had perfect control over her body.
"Wow... That was some incredible movement."
"Really? Isn't this normal?"
She said it while still holding the Sea Grok's limbs, which were dripping blue blood.
"Um... Are those legs for eating?"
"Yep! They're delicious!"
She really seemed to intend to eat them.
"What about the torso you left behind?"
"That part's not tasty."
She'd apparently tried the torso before. Since it didn't taste good, she'd discarded it.
A sudden thought struck me, so I asked, "You didn't take the magic stones?"
"Magic stones? Does the lord need them?"
"They're useful if you have them. While we're at it, I'd like those tridents too."
"Really? Then I'll be right back."
Miya set down the limbs she'd been holding and hopped away. The Sea Grok's torso was quite large—about three times the size of her own body. Even so, she grabbed one in each hand and leaped lightly. In an instant she was back beside me, dropping the two Sea Groks before jumping again. She returned with the remaining torso and three tridents, piling them all next to me.
'Sixth-grade magic stones... I think they were worth around ten million each...'
I recalled the price ranges for magic stones by grade that I'd looked up while slacking off at work. And that wasn't all. The carcasses of sixth-grade monsters were valuable too, and those tridents would fetch a decent price. Each monster might be worth twenty million or more.
"By the way, how do you extract the magic stones?"
"Huh? You want me to take them out?"
"Can you?"
"Easy."
Magic stones were usually embedded in a monster's heart. Even though the bodies were dead, these were sixth-grade monsters. A newly awakened first-grade like me wouldn't be able to pull them out. While I was pondering this, Miya spoke casually.
She reached out and casually dug into the chest area. Then she withdrew her hand as if it were nothing. In her grasp was the Sea Grok's heart. She sliced it cleanly in half with her claws, revealing the blue gem inside.
'That's worth ten million each...'
Miya repeated the process three times. The hearts and magic stones came out cleanly. Just the stones alone were worth thirty million. And that still wasn't everything. The tridents and the Sea Grok carcasses would add several hundred million more. If I sold the stones and byproducts together, I might make five or six hundred million.
So awakening really was like winning the lottery. That saying was true. I'd hit the jackpot.
"Hm~ Hm~"
While I was rejoicing, Miya hummed to herself as she prepared the Sea Grok limbs. She lightly ran her claws along the ends, then peeled the skin away in one smooth motion, exposing the pale pink flesh beneath. Because the blood was blue, the areas with blood vessels looked oddly bluish and grotesque—similar to veins visible beneath fair skin, but far more pronounced.
"Lord, can I start a fire here?"
"Hm? Ah. To cook them? Then... let's move over there."
The edge of the territory where the tide pool rocks met Ttangkkeut Village. It was better to build a fire on flat ground rather than on the rocks or the mountain. Miya nodded at my words, smiling brightly as she headed that way.
I stored the items on the ground into my status window—the inventory space that awakened individuals gained for storing gate- and dungeon-related items. Since I was still only first-grade, the space was nearly full after storing everything.
"Eek?! Lord, are you a mage?"
Miya was startled when the items vanished into thin air.
"A mage? No, I'm not."
My awakened class was Lord. Definitely not a mage.
"Wasn't that spatial magic that only archmages can use?"
"It's a common ability every awakened person has."
"Eek?! That's amazing!"
"More importantly, Miya. Do you know how to start a fire?"
"Huh? Ah..."
I asked while following behind her as she hummed. At my question, Miya froze completely. Her body creaked as she turned around, looking at me with a pitiful expression.
"L-Lord... Y-You know how to start a fire...?"
"Why the sudden formal speech?"
"B-But...! I really want to eat this delicious thing...!"
Miya was so desperate that she even switched to formal speech. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at me—it was strangely effective. Like a charismatic older sister suddenly acting cute and pleading. The effect was tremendous.
"Is it that important?"
"Yes! The mountain I lived on didn't have enough food! I was really starving every day, eating nothing but snow! Sometimes I'd get porridge or tree bark... It was so hard!"
She'd mentioned running away from home. It seemed she'd left because she couldn't endure the hunger. Food must be incredibly important to her.
"Is there anything you can't eat?"
"I can eat anything except porridge and tree bark!"
"Ah... I see. Okay?"
The information listed under my subjects had said she was Miya, the Snow Leopard princess from the Eternal Snow Mountain. The Eternal Snow Mountain. The food she'd eaten there was porridge and tree bark. Moisture welled up in my eyes for some reason.
'She grew up eating that... and she turned out so well...!'
I hadn't been able to look at her properly because of the approaching monsters, but Miya was wearing quite revealing clothing. A white tank top, blue hot pants, and leather boots that reached her ankles. Most of her fair skin was exposed. How cold must the Eternal Snow Mountain have been for her to think the air felt warm in January?
'What an admirable mindset...!'
Bang! Her chest was ample, her waist slim, and she even had a clear eleven-line abs on her stomach. Not only was her face pretty—her figure was incredible too.
"Why?"
"I was just thinking how impressive it is that you grew up so well eating porridge and tree bark..."
"Ah! I left home about ten years ago, so I've been eating pretty well lately!"
"Right. We should talk about that too. Why did you run away from home?"
"Net!? R-Run away...? I-It was a perfectly legal departure!"
"Miya. Your speech pattern changed again."
"W-Well..."
She looked like she wanted to hide it, but I still needed to confirm. She was my first subject. There might be Snow Leopards looking for their runaway daughter. I couldn't afford to lose someone as powerful as Miya so easily.
"I'm not trying to scold you. I need to know the situation so I can persuade any Snow Leopards who might come looking for you."
"Y-You're not trying to kick me out, are you...?"
"No. I like you, Miya. You're also my first subject, so I want to keep living together no matter what."
"I-Is that so... Ehehe..."
Miya, who had been glancing at me nervously, broke into a silly grin. Her appearance was the very picture of cool and elegant, but her behavior was far too cute.
The village was still quite far away. Miya explained her circumstances.
"Hmm... A tribe suffering from food shortages, yet the king refuses to abandon their territory..."
"That's right! Even though he's my dad, isn't that too much? He's the king of the Snow Leopards! He should be trying to save everyone somehow! If things continue like this, there's only a future where everyone dies!"
"That's... Well, the king probably has his own difficulties. The Eternal Snow Mountain? He's probably lived there for a long time. Tradition is an important root for the tribe that can't be ignored."
"Still... They need to survive first before they can preserve tradition..."
Miya had run away when she was young. I didn't know how old she was now, but she'd seen the world after leaving home. She'd seen and felt many things. Things she couldn't understand as a child, she could probably grasp now.
"Yeah. What matters is your feelings. What would you do if your people asked you to come back?"
"I absolutely won't go back!"
"Then that's fine."
Even if I encountered other Snow Leopards like Miya, I simply wouldn't accept them as subjects. What could they do then? If they weren't accepted, they'd probably just have to return. Having decided on that policy, it was time to focus on the present. We'd arrived near the village anyway.
"Let's gather some twigs and kindling."
"Ah, yes."
Miya and I wandered around collecting what we needed. We piled the gathered twigs and kindling in one spot. I'd quit smoking, but I always kept a lighter in my pocket because it was surprisingly useful. I used it to light the kindling.
"Eeeek?! Fire magic!? You said you weren't a mage, Lord!"
"This isn't magic. It's just a lighter."
"Is that small thing a magical tool!?"
"It's not related to magic. More importantly, the fire's caught, so hand me some small branches."
"Ah, yes!"
Miya hopped around in amazement at the lighter. Really, every single thing she did was adorable. The fact that she followed my instructions well was a bonus too.
I'd started campfires a few times when I'd gone camping, so I managed to get it going without much trouble. Seeing this, Miya's eyes sparkled as she made a fuss, saying how impressive it was.
"Lord is amazing! Starting a fire so quickly! You're incredible!"
"Stop exaggerating. How are you going to cook those?"
"We'll grill them, of course?"
When I pointed at the Sea Grok limbs and asked, Miya simply tried to throw them onto the fire.
"Wait."
"Yes?"
"You're just going to put them on like that?"
"Yes!"
"Then they'll burn."
"We can just scrape off the burnt parts and eat them!"
"Hah... Give them here."
"Here you go!"
Honestly, holding one of the somewhat grotesque Sea Grok legs, I received it. It was pale pink raw flesh the size of a grown man's thigh, with blue blood flowing through its veins. It would be strange if it wasn't disgusting.
'No, if I just think of it as raw chicken, it'll be fine?'
The shape was exactly like chicken meat. If I just thought of it as an absurdly large chicken, it became a little more bearable. Once the blood was completely removed, it might actually be okay.
"Let's wash them a bit first."
I headed toward the ruined village. Miya followed me. Then—
Thud!
"Agh!"
At the boundary of the territory, Miya couldn't go any further. It was as if she'd hit an invisible wall.
"I guess subjects can't leave the territory. Miya, can you wait here?"
"Hng... Yeess..."
Miya's figure was bang! and bang-bang! If she just walked forward, the first thing to hit the wall would be her ample chest. The grateful sight of it being pressed against the invisible wall... Even the way she stepped back slightly and gently rubbed it with her hand was nice.
"Wait there with those things."
"Yes!"
Even though the village was ruined, there might be something left. I began moving to find what we needed.