Cedaraille did not disappoint! So many new ingredients! So many possibilities~ Taking Lady Yorshka’s suggestion to come here was the correct choice!

If you were to ask an adventurer why a settlement with a dungeon was so popular, then they would reply with “we can hunt monsters without worrying about the hunter’s guild warning us off.” That is because monsters are constantly created inside a dungeon, meaning that adventurers can hunt them for an indefinite amount of time. Monster populations outside of dungeons need to be carefully managed so they neither become a threat nor go extinct in the area, and while it was possible to repopulate these environments through monster spawning, flooding an area with too much mana can be a terrible risk, as that may result in strong monsters spawning.

Both adventurer types — hunters and mercenaries — slay monsters to earn money and create new equipment for themselves. While mercenaries technically specialized in humanoid encounters, it wasn’t rare for a mercenary to also be a member of the hunter’s guild, and vice versa. Adventurers couldn’t be picky about their source of income.

Not like ours, since our party was receiving “donations” from the Church of Aurena.

My name is Tamae Tsuji, or Tsuji Tamae as I would be called if we were in Japan and not in Peolynca. Daughter of two prestigious chefs, ex-class representative of class 3-2, and now the party leader of The Magical Biscuits. I’m also one of those so-called “Heroes of Aurena,” a tag given to me by one of the religious factions in this fantasy world — the Church of Aurena. While my name and those of my classmates were being used as religious propaganda, we actually were kidnapped from Earth to this world through, you guessed it, magic!

Now, the only way for us to return home was to follow the church’s orders, which included risking our lives to defeat some so-called demonkin monarch. While everybody was, unsurprisingly, dissatisfied with the situation, I personally looked at this opportunity with optimism.

Not because I wanted to fight anybody, but because this world was filled with new ingredients to cook with.

“Tama-chan, you’re acting up again…” With a soft shake on my shoulder, the world seemed to have come back into focus for me. The black frame in front of my eyes disappeared and the blur on the edges cleared up, breaking my focus from the object in the middle of my vision.

A giant cave bat. A felwing.

“Oh, sorry about that, Kazumi-chan,” I apologized to Kazumi Hoshino, a good friend and fellow “hero.” “The marketplace is always so packed with goods when a dungeon is nearby, no? Meat is butchered on the street and then immediately sold to a passerby, materials for weapons and armors are sold to vendors by adventurers; all of that without any care for endangering any animal species.”

“Urgh, you aren’t thinking of turning that bat into a meal, right? Spices can block the memory of the monster’s appearance by only so much,” Kohaku Kobayashi commented with disgust from behind me. She was a good friend, too, and, like Kazumi-chan, was a member of The Magical Biscuits. “You can cook well, Tama-chan, but some of your more experimental dishes were pretty weird. We don’t have the taste buds of a monster or anything like that.

I wish I had the taste buds of a monster. I wonder what it’s like to eat like one? Are certain tastes neutral for them?

However, I guess my curiosity belongs more to tasting new ingredients as a whole. I love tasting new dishes, whether it’s gourmet or simple street food, as widening one’s horizons is one of the goals a chef must always pursue. Limiting myself to a small palette would undoubtedly dull my tastes, make me picky, and it’s a life lesson I will always remember, especially after my parents pretty much forced their interests and philosophy on me like that!

So, it was pretty annoying to hear that I couldn’t taste certain animals due to them being endangered, and I understand that fully. A sticker with “one of the last of its kind” on a plastic-wrapped steak does make eating such a thing unappetizing.

So, what a surprise it was for me to witness a monster digging itself free from the ground the moment it was “born” inside a dungeon. Mana was as abundant as air on Peolynca, and as long as there was mana, there would be dungeons producing monsters like a factory. Peolynca already brought a different spin on certain ingredients I was used to on Earth, so I couldn’t be happier when I learned I could cook and taste whatever ingredients I wanted to without worrying about bringing them closer to extinction!

Although, most of the things I could make wouldn’t even be considered a menu option in a fine-dining restaurant. Too radical, too experimental.

“Anyways, I think we have enough for tonight’s dinner. We can stop by at the merchant guild tomorrow to purchase our dungeon rations,” I told Kazumi-chan and Kohaku-chan while we all were carrying bags full of groceries.

My party and I were currently in Cedaraille, the capital of the Greenveil Duchy of the Kingdom of Artorias, not because of any church work, but because we needed to restock on alchemical ingredients. You see, not only was I our party’s main cook, but I was also responsible for brewing our potions and enchanting our equipment, although only at a novice level. The reason for this was my unique supportive skill [Enchanter’s Oath].

Each of us “Heroes of Aurena” received a unique skill when we arrived in Peolynca, and mine was meant for supporting others. Although I still dabbled a bit in magic despite not being the most talented in it, since The Magical Biscuits wouldn’t have a healer if I hadn’t volunteered to become one. “Support mage with a few offensive spells,” would be the perfect way to describe my expertise…

As the three of us left the central marketplace, we made our way back to our inn in the merchant district. On the way, I caught a whiff of something delectable, drawing my attention towards it.

“…our stress disappear ♫

Let my song reach you, fill your heart with wonder and more ♫

Gaze up to the blue sky ♫

To smile to the light ♫

Listen now, you know what is right ♫

Listen now, don’t need to look so wry ♫”

The sound of a violin, or geigler as the Artorians called it, and the voice of a young woman harmonized perfectly togethe, reached my ears. I felt more at ease, as if an uneasiness tightening my chest was momentarily washed away in this musical wonderland.

A crowd was gathering around the music, blocking my sight. Looking through the gaps, I witnessed the source of that smell I noticed earlier. It was a street food stall, where the chef was cooking inside a wooden cube stall, blocking me from actually seeing the chef from this angle. I could see a waitress serving customers of the stall, but it was just impossible for me to see her face. There wasn’t even a chance to see the musicians either.

Wow, this smells amazing. I want to try it out!

As a mere apprentice chef, I still was very curious about how Peolyncians prepared their meals. What ingredients did they use, their techniques, what influenced them to make it? I’ve been going around whenever I had some spare time to taste street vendors or eateries in every town and city our party has visited, although, if it wasn’t for our party’s constant activities, I probably would have increased my waistline by now.

As I was about to push through the crowd to have a taste of whatever this vendor was cooking, somebody grabbed my arm. Usually, I would be anxious by this, but as neither [Danger Perception] nor [Enhanced Enemy Sense] had warned me, I calmly turned my head around to where two angry girls were glaring at me.

“Don’t make us late again just because you got excited about some dish, Tama-chan!” Kazumi-chan scolded me.

“Right! We can do that tomorrow. We need to get the groceries back and get to cooking,” Kohaku-chan agreed, pulling me out of the crowd and pushing me away from it.

A shame.

Once back at our inn, which was one of the finest in the city, the three of us were greeted by Nishio Kudo and Misaki Kawano, the two remaining members of our party. After renting the inn’s kitchen, we unpacked our ingredients and began cooking; well, I did most of the cooking, although the others helped out with the preparations.

“Hey, everybody, I’m back~”

“Oh! Welcome back, Lady Yorshka!”

That was Commander Yorshka, a high-ranking and incredibly strong knight belonging to the Knights of Aurena, a holy knight order responsible for the protection of the Church of Aurena. As the church wanted to keep us “Heroes” safe until we were ready to fight the demonkin monarch, they assigned a knight to each of our parties. There were five parties with five members each and each party was overseen by one knight.

You would imagine a knight to be more stoic and serious about matters, but Lady Yorshka was quite lax and carefree outside of duty. She acted more like a friend, albeit a very strict friend when it came to training and bettering ourselves to “survive better.”

“So, I know we came here to buy some alchemy ingredients, but does anybody have anything against going to the dungeon?” Lady Yorshka asked while we ate.

“Won’t we be behind schedule?” Nishio-kun asked her with skepticism. Our party was actually paired with another party of our classmates, who were currently waiting around Firwood, going around to fulfill the local temple’s requests.

“I just received a message that Asaka and Elrick are having some troubles with the local wildlife. They’re thinning down the group close to one of the designated villages. In other words, we have some time to spare, and I think the best way would be for training,” Lady Yorshka smiled mischievously, knowing we couldn’t say no since she had already given us a big lecture on being prepared and ready to fight wherever.

‘Do you five have any idea of how many C rank or higher adventurers randomly die to the most unbelievable coincidences? Luck and fortune will never be in your favor and one simple misstep can mean your end, for either heroes or commoners. You can fight goblins on one day, but a giant warrior the next. I am responsible for keeping you five alive, but it is also my duty to make sure you can fend for yourselves, do you all understand? Even I could die, so I would appreciate it if I could put my trust in you to prevent those scenarios from happening since I can’t afford to die, okay?’

Bone-chilling, honestly.

The next day, Lady Yorshka brought us to the hunter’s guild for us to get our dungeon permission and, once we were done, she brought us up to the second floor, looking around the room filled with tables and people eating. She then went to the furthest table with us where a robbed man was sitting.

“Talon Mellor, yes? Do I have the correct person?” Lady Yorshka said, prompting the man to turn his head around, revealing a half-mask hiding the right side of his face.

“Who wants to know? A customer?” he replied in a monotone voice, inspecting Lady Yorshka and us with half-close eyes.

“Something like that. Two questions before we get to business. Have you seen a girl with red hair, horns, and a tail? Dragonewt girl around the age of 15 or 16?” She then pointed at the emblem on her white armor, symbolizing the Knights of Aurena. The masked man understood what she meant and nodded after a few seconds of contemplation. “Good. Do you know where she went? Where was she lodging?”

“Why would I? I just met the girl once and that was it. I don’t have the time to meddle in others’ business,” he then took a swig from his tankard, moistening his throat. “Questions answered. What’s your business with me?”

Lady Yorshka scratched her snow-white hair, swinging her ponytail around as a result, mumbling, “Dammit, Gael. Couldn’t you have your birds follow them better? Causes more problems that he solves, honestly.” She then turned towards us, introducing the man before us, “Talon Mellor, an Illusionist and C rank hunter. He’ll be our dungeon guide to help us reach the lower floors faster. Get used to his pessimism.”

She then turned back to him. “I need your help guiding us down to the lower floors, below ten.”

“No.” It was an immediate rejection.

While the five of us reacted to this answer in our own way, Lady Yorshka didn’t flinch one bit, looking like she knew this would happen. “And why is that?”

“Floor ten is the start leading to the magma chamber, the room of the dungeon boss and core. You can’t pay me enough nor can you coerce me into helping you, church knight. I ain’t ever going there.” The robed man then turned away from us, waving his hand to tell us to leave.

Shame. A guide would be useful.

As the rest of us were about to leave, Lady Yorshka held her hand up to signal us to stop before continuing, despite it looking like the man was ignoring her. “Well, I did hear you had pyrophobia, so I can’t blame you for declining. You have the body to show for it, after all,” which earned Lady Yorshka a scoff from him.

His body?

“Well, you know, the bird chirps also said something about your past. I don’t need to bring it up, right?” The man then turned his head around, staring at Yorshka with irritation and anger. “One name. Keith Svonnweidher.”

“I’m all ears.”

A smirk grew on her face from the robed man’s answer. “I have no idea if you heard this, but Professor Keith was kicked out of the royal academy due to an unfortunate accident, where one of his proteges accidentally killed a noble’s heir. Poor kid, got influenced by a Danterno fanatic. Well, Keith was found out and rightfully kicked out for forgetting to teach his student how to calm his emotions.”

“Skip to the important parts.”

“Okay, okay. Well, a reliable source informed me he recently entered Greenveil Duchy with a bunch of Danterno's other followers. The lower floors are quite fiery, which makes it a perfect place for a pilgrimage, no? They can probably get their hands on some special rocks or minerals to create a powerful alchemical stone.” Yorshka then showed him her ID, displaying her hunter and adventurer rank proudly to him. “We need a guide. Do you need help?”

“R-Rank A…” The man then took his mask off for his right eye to properly see Lady Yorshka’s ID with both eyes. I gasped at the sight of the right side of his face, scarred and completely red, as if he’d experienced a severe burn.

My eye was then drawn to a rune-like tattoo glowing bright blue as if it was there to hide his scars. “It isn’t an illusion,” he spoke aside to me, noticing my gaze on the tattoo, before answering Lady Yorshka. “I know the path down. If the dungeon hasn’t changed the layout since the first time I visited that hellish place, then I should be able to guide you down without any worries.”

“Good. However, before we go, would you mind offering your secondary services to us?” Lady Yorshka then turned to us. “Does anybody want a cool runic tattoo? It’ll hurt, though~”

************************************

“Impossible!”

A voice echoed through the halls of an abandoned dwarven mining hold, once dedicated to the Blacksmith God Bleidla. A lone figure was standing at the end of a hallway located on the deepest floor of the hold, behind a giant dwarven door. He had golden hair and yellow skin with two jagged horns protruding out of his forehead and a long, thin tail extending from a hole in his pants.

He had an expression of disbelief, displaying his small sharp fangs. He then clenched his teeth before storming into a small room, smashing the skeletal remains of a human. The room had nothing inside of it, save for all the dust on the floor.

“T-This can’t be! H-How could this happen?!” the demonkin exclaimed with bafflement instead of anger. “Why? What is going on? Why is everything working against us? The damn grimgarians failed once again, losing a whole battalion and the cave entrance into Greenveil collapsed from a flood. A flood! Inside a mountain?! How was that possible?!”

Rage filled the demonkin, turning his yellow skin slightly reddish, but it stopped before it could dye his whole face. The red flush vanished and the pristine yellow gold appeared once again. The mark of a demonkin of pride.

“Wrath…dammit…I need to calm myself down. I am better than those savages. I am better than those savages. I am better than those savages. I am superior to all the other demonkin, even those others of pride,” the demonkin breathed heavily before his heartbeat calmed down significantly, so slow he could be mistaken for a corpse. “… The progression towards taming sea serpents has been significantly slowed down because of a leviathan evolving into an S rank, causing chaos in the seas. The orb holding a herald of my gods was taken away by somebody, and all the preparations that human made to accommodate the herald were destroyed. The perfect place for its resurrection.”

He then shook his head. “Greenveil knows now, without a doubt; whoever destroyed the battalion would have informed the humans. Artorias will know, and if this war ends in failure, then I cannot call myself superior to those wretches ever again. My pride cannot allow that.”

A creature of darkness suddenly manifested from the demonkin’s mana, morphed into the form of a raven. “It is time I sent this kingdom into chaos. It must be made vulnerable.”

No laughter was heard. The demonkin was poised to act.

“The herald must be found.”