Chapter 160

Minerva’s confusion wasn’t resolved .

Entering her own usual bed, and welcoming the next day as usual wasn’t an event far in the past . But then the duke residency was getting attacked, and she was in an unfamiliar grassland by the time she regained her consciousness .

Being attacked by unfamiliar beasts, and even encountering a river that was actually a demonic being that can speak . Though she was surprised at Rona who she thought was only a beast talking fluently, even more than that, she remembered Rona’s proficiency with arts .

With not a single mystery solved, only more and more obstacles stood in her way back to the capital . Even when she was told that they were now in a world different from the one she was raised in, it only added more to her confusion .

「Commander Greystar . It’s embarrassing to say but……, I haven’t understood a single thing about what happened . 」

The fire between the people swayed while it consumed the twigs on the ground . On the edge of the twigs are skewers of Nedulo meat cut into suitable sizes .

After all, without proper tool, all they could have is some simple roasted meat .

「Don’t worry, Ojou-sama . It’s the same for me . 」

Picking one skewer up in his empty hand, Moore held the meat on the fire as he answered .

「Rona said it’s a different world . But what did he mean by that? A different continent? 」

「I wonder . If we’re not on Rovres Continent, then there’s no need to say it’s a different 『World』 . It’s a different continent, would be the correct expression . In the first place, even in other continents, there should be twilight . The fact that there wasn’t a twilight here is not what I can understand . If only there was someone who knew everything . 」

There’s no use pondering over something they didn’t know, Moore sighed as he muttered .

Minerva looked ahead . Rona was explaining frantically towards a man who had his arms crossed sitting on a tree stump .

According to what Rona said, that man would be her Shishou, Ardis .

It’s unbelievable . That’s what Minerva felt .

She only knew the young Ardis . No matter what, the age couldn’t match with this man who had an unshaven face . Certainly, his hair and eyes are black like Ardis’s, and even their faces look similar .

If Ardis would’ve aged more, then it’s possible for him to grow into someone like the man there .

(But……)

Minerva shook her head inwardly .

There’s no way that man is Ardis .

Rona said they weren’t exactly the same person, but their origin is the same . But that man didn’t look like he knew Minerva nor Moore at all . Above all, it was the difference in their eyes .

(Shishou’s eyes is not that chilling)

The man’s gaze towards Minerva was icy, it was a gaze treating her like an enemy .

It seemed like he was fine with Rona but at the same time, he didn’t care a single thing about anyone other than Rona . The time when they were talking, the evaluating eyes towards Minerva and Moore were very uncomfortable .

「Here Ojou-sama . It’s done . 」

Moore who was silently roasting the Nedulo meat had finished cooking one and offered to Minerva . The roasted meat had a nice color on the skewer .

Rona responded to Moore’s voice .

「Nnn― . Let’s eat first and continue the talk later . 」

Though it wasn’t a brilliant time to stop, Rona stopped the explanation with Ardis and then moved onto eating first . Rona cleverly used his front two paws to grab onto the skewer, then just ate it from the front .

While being impressed by Rona’s technique, Minerva moved her gaze to the skewer that was handed over to her .

「Umm…… . How should I ……? 」

「Ah, that’s right . We have a young lady here . 」

Moore was troubled as well seeing Minerva concerning over how she should proceed .

「Since we don’t have a knife or a fork, not even a plate . It’s just as simple as biting it off with your mouth, right? 」 Moore showed an example as he bit into the meat .

It is an act that would normally not be allowed for any noble lady . But it was an emergency situation . And there wasn’t any nobles nor servants around, Minerva decided to challenge one of the first times of her life .

Though it was cut into smaller pieces, they were still too big for Minerva . As she bit into the meat that was tougher than expected, the remaining heat can be felt through her teeth .

While frowning at that toughness, since the Nedulo meat had a firmness similar to beef, she wasn’t really caught on anything at first . Minerva thought it would just be tasteless because there wasn’t any seasoning, that was apparently a big mistake .

As she chewed, there was an unbelievable raw smell from the tough meat . Along with the sticky feeling that comes from the meat, the meat that was being chewed was like a piece of tanned leather resisting against their teeth .

Despite it should’ve been cooked already, the raw and gamey smell still filled their mouth .

Of course, Minerva who was born a noble could’ve never experienced eating raw meat . But the unappetizing taste and the resistance that would only grow stronger as they chewed, Minerva who couldn’t bear it threw it out .

「Uek! What the heck!? Peh, peh! This is so bad! 」

Similarly, Moore who was beside Minerva who had similarly tasted his first Nedulo meat coughed it up . It seems like it wasn’t just a special characteristic of a noble lady’s palate .

Even if Moore is a military man now, he was once a mercenary that had crossed multiple battlefields . If someone like him had threw up what he had in his mouth, it must be the meat at fault .

「What the heck is this!? Is this something you can eat!? 」

Following his gaze, Minerva as well looked towards Rona and Ardis . And there was the man who easily ate the pieces of meat off the skewer, and then there was Rona who had a frowning face even while devouring the second piece .

「Don’t eat it if you don’t want to . No one forced you to eat anyways . 」

The man said so while having one hand on his temple for some reason . Following him, there was Rona who said, 「Still, eat some」

「I know how you feel . However, there’s nothing but Nedulo meat around here . Maybe in the later seasons, there would be tree sprouts that is better, either way, they can only fill little of your stomach . 」

「Nothing but this……」

Minerva was looking at the piece of Nedulo meat with a grim face .

Although her hunger wasn’t too extreme that she can’t endure it yet, it’s still half a day or longer since she had a meal . Even if she retired now, her limit would come soon .

「If you choose to starve, then so be it, if you have something else, then just eat that . There’s no one stopping you . 」

Though Minerva was muttering to herself, the black-haired man responded for some reason . His voice seemed to have some elements of irritation .

「There should be something better if we can find a human settlement but, there’s nothing else here, Minerva . It might be difficult but at least eat a little . Pinch your nose and it’ll be a little better . A little . 」

In a world where their bearings aren’t even clear, of course they can’t find anything that is befitting for a noble lady to eat . Following Rona’s encouragement, Minerva pinched her nose tight and made her move again .

Certainly, the raw smell is less intense . But even if the smell dulled, the uncomfortable and disgusting texture didn’t change .

「Uuu……」

Minerva who was about to vomit out forcefully swallowed the piece . Just as she felt it going down, the gastric fluid inside her stomach as if resisting it almost threw up everything, but she managed to hold it in .

Looking beside her while having tears on her eyes, Moore was in a similar fashion, wrestling with the meat . As expected from a former mercenary . His tolerance is much greater than Minerva’s noble palate .

「It’ll be better not chewing it, not chewing it that is! 」

Not able to contain his rage, his frustration and anger was directed to the disgusting meat . It seems like he tore off bit by bit from the skewer, and then without chewing, swallowed it down .

It was something Minerva didn’t think she could imitate at all . In the end, Minerva who couldn’t bring herself to have a second bite filled herself with water from Rona .

After finishing the dinner that was shrouded in a strange tense mood, the sky had totally become dark .

「Since we had our meal already, let’s sleep already . 」

Rona said so while curling up beside Minerva . As for Ardis, he took off his sword belt, and then laid on the ground to sleep .

「Oi, are we not going to have night watches? 」

Though Moore was asking in a panic seeing Rona and the others heading to sleep already, Ardis didn’t seem bothered enough to even spare him a glance as he said .

「Night watch? Why bother about something like that, just handle them if they come your way . 」

「It’s just in case . In the first place, isn’t that too cruel to ask from Ojou-sama? 」

「Can’t even sense an attack beforehand huh……」

Ardis had a tired face as he said .

Minerva bit her lips unintentionally . From what he said, Ardis and Rona probably can detect any danger even when they’re asleep and can counter it . It might be the same for Moore who had been a mercenary for a long time .

But Minerva is a noble lady without any experience of even camping outside . Leaving aside detecting any danger in her sleep, she probably doesn’t even have the ability to protect herself even if she could .

「It’s fine . Minerva will be safe beside me . No problem even if you slept soundly till morning . 」

Rona’s assurance only helped to add more clouds to Minerva’s mind .

While already feeling powerlessness, she couldn’t do anything other than to acknowledge that fact . Minerva as well, laid on the ground beside Rona, while feeling the body warmth from the golden fur, she closed her eyes .

Fatigue immediately caught up . Although she had trained quite a bunch recently by Ardis, it was the first time she had to walk for an extended period . There wasn’t a long time before Minerva let go of her consciousness and fell asleep .