The guard at the harbor guardhouse let out a heavy sigh as he looked at the young man standing before him.
"Didn't you say you were headed out to hunt monsters? How exactly did that turn into a pirate subjugation?"
"Well, who knows? I looked for monsters and couldn't find any, but I found a pirate ship instead. It just happened."
Rei spoke with the casual air of someone explaining that they climbed a mountain simply because it was there. The guard sighed again.
"Normally, a single person isn't supposed to be able to do anything against an entire pirate ship."
"I have a reliable partner with me. Besides, it's pretty obvious which one has the advantage: a ship tied to the waves, or a gryphon that can fly anywhere in the sky."
"Even so, usually the sheer difference in numbers is enough to overwhelm someone... or at the very least, the pirates would have found a way to slip away. Well, as far as the Emocion Guard Force is concerned, capturing pirates is a huge help. Though it's strange how fast they gave up and returned to port. They must have had informants inside the city."
"Most likely. That's probably why most of them lost their will to fight the moment they realized they were facing the man who killed the Lemures. They knew they had no chance."
Against an adventurer capable of slaying a beast like the Lemures, resistance was a death sentence. To the pirates, living on as criminal slaves was a better alternative than dying in vain. They probably figured they might even find a way to escape eventually. As Rei laid out his reasoning, the guard nodded in agreement.
"True enough. From the city's perspective, we're grateful for the influx of criminal slaves. We can put them up for auction, and even if they don't sell, there's always plenty of work for them in dangerous places like the mines. The city welcomes the labor. Here, I need you to sign this."
Rei skimmed the documents handed to him, but his eyes widened slightly when he reached the section regarding payment. The figure listed was nine gold coins—far higher than he had anticipated.
"This is quite a lot."
"You think so? Considering the majority of that is for the ship itself, I'd say it's actually a bargain. Normally, building a vessel of that scale would cost several platinum coins. Of course, since it was a pirate ship, it was in rough shape, and we had to deduct the cost of repairing the damage you caused to arrive at that final number."
"...I see. So it's mostly the price of the ship. But doesn't that make the price for the slaves a bit too low?"
"Well, that's the trade-off for having us handle everything as a lump sum. Once you factor in the commission fees, that's about the market rate. Of course, if you personally took them to a slave trader or put them up for auction yourself, you could probably sell them for double that—or close to it. What's your call?"
Rei weighed the coin against the hassle, and the scales tipped instantly toward convenience. Had he been a master negotiator, it might have been a different story, but Rei knew his only talent in that area was intimidation. He nodded without hesitation. The fact that he was scheduled to leave the City of Emocion in the near future also played a large part in his decision.
"That price is fine. Process it on your end."
"Understood. Here is your reward for the job."
The guard stacked nine gold coins on the desk. Rei scooped them up and tucked them away into the Misty Ring.
"Seriously, I can't tell if you have the best luck or the worst. Either way, dealing with those pirates was a big help. Honestly, I'd love for you to head out to sea every day for a while."
The guard spoke half-jokingly, but Rei gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"My goal is monsters, first and foremost. But since they’ve all vanished for some reason, I think I'll wait and see for a few days. I have some other things I want to take care of anyway."
"Things you want to take care of?"
"Something related to cooking. Since I'm in Emocion, I want to try the local delicacies and experiment with a few dishes of my own."
"An adventurer who cooks? That's a new one. Well, whatever. Just don't go causing any trouble. The number of adventurers aiming for the Lemures has dropped off, but there are still plenty of troublemakers lurking around."
"Yeah, I know."
Giving a short reply, Rei stepped out of the guardhouse toward the area where Seto was waiting, lying on the ground.
"Man, now that it's getting close to evening, the stalls are starting to smell incredible."
"Guruuu."
Seto’s shoulders slumped dejectedly at Rei's words. Between towing the pirate ship, the interrogations, and the paperwork for the captives, they hadn't had a moment to eat lunch. The guards had shared some sandwiches, but the bread had been dry and the fillings parched; it was a far cry from the quality of a real meal. Rei could have pulled something from the Misty Ring, but he hadn't felt right eating a feast in front of the busy, overworked guards, so he had settled for the tasteless sandwiches.
As for Seto, some of the harbor workers who recognized it had offered bits of dried meat and sandwiches, but that was hardly enough to fill a creature over two meters long. Rei could hear the gryphon's stomach growling from several feet away.
"...Guruu."
Seto let out a whimpering cry of hunger. Reminded that his own stomach was equally empty, Rei headed for a nearby stall.
"Hey there! Welcome! Oh, if it isn't Rei. Want a bite of something?"
The stall owner, who was busy grilling fish and squid over an open flame, greeted the one man and one beast with a wide grin.
"Yeah. Give me a silver coin's worth of whatever's good. ...Hm? Wait a second. Is that...?"
Rei's eyes locked onto something on the grill. It was a set of eight legs covered in suckers. Only the legs were being cooked, but it was unmistakable.
"Octopus?"
"Hm? Oh, this? People from some regions won't touch the stuff, but we eat it quite a bit around here. They look pretty grotesque when they're whole, but I guarantee the taste is top-notch. ...Wait, if you know the name, does that mean you've seen one? Want me to throw some in?"
"Yeah. Please."
Rei nodded, a smile spreading across his face as he watched the octopus legs being plated.
(I might actually be able to make takoyaki. Since there are no monsters in the water, maybe I'll try making some tomorrow?)
He mused on the idea for a moment before a realization struck him, and he shook his head.
(Wait, I don't have a takoyaki griddle. I'd have to get a blacksmith to forge one for me. Speaking of which, that dwarf was quite skilled. Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow? It's worth a shot—if it works, it'll be a massive win.)
"Here you go, one silver coin's worth. ...What's up? You've been quiet for a bit."
"No, I just haven't seen octopus in a while. I've been buying up seafood lately, but I couldn't find it anywhere."
"A lot of people can't stand the sight of them, so we don't usually put them out on display. If you ask a shopkeeper directly, they'll usually sell them to you from the back."
"So they're that unpopular? Well, at least I know how to get them now. Thanks. ...Wait, isn't this way too much?"
The amount of fish and shellfish piled on the plate was easily double what a silver coin usually bought. It looked like at least two silver coins' worth of food. The stall owner just gave Rei a knowing grin.
"Consider it a token of gratitude from the residents of the City of Emocion."
"I've already been thanked plenty. I even got a great price for the Lemures materials."
"Doesn't matter. This is my treat, so just shut up and take it."
"...I appreciate it. Thank you."
"Heh, you being that polite messes with my rhythm. Just eat! Grilled seafood is best when it's hot. And here's Seto's share."
Rei began moving the mountain of seafood from his plate onto the second dish provided for his partner.
"Gurururuuu!"
Seto dug in, swallowing fish whole, crunching through shrimp and crab shells without a second thought, and devouring shellfish as if the shells didn't exist.
"..."
Leaving the stall owner staring in stunned silence at Seto’s appetite, Rei bit into a piece of fish. With no forks, knives, or chopsticks provided, he ate with his bare hands. Normally, the food would have been too hot to touch, but Rei didn't let it bother him as he deftly stripped the meat from the bones. He peeled the shrimp and crab, and used a wooden skewer to pluck the tender meat from the shells.
They didn't eat messily, but they ate with a focused speed born of missing lunch. The massive pile of grilled seafood on the fifty-centimeter plates vanished in less than fifteen minutes.
"Oh, welcome back! I heard the news, Rei-san. You caught a group of pirates?"
"Yeah, things just ended up that way. It was a nice bit of extra income."
"I see! In that case, how about a special dinner tonight? I'm not sure if it's because you defeated the Lemures, but for some reason, the monsters have completely vanished from the sea. The fishermen are bringing in record catches. I'll give you some extra service tonight as a celebration."
The moment he stepped into the Coral Inn of the Blue Sea, the shop girl greeted him with a bright smile. Rei tilted his head curiously.
"I knew the monsters were gone, but the fish are still there?"
"Yes, for some reason, they don't seem affected at all. The harbor is bustling with a huge haul."
"...Huh. Strange how that works. Well, I'm definitely not turning down dinner. I've always got room for good food. Also, could you make sure Seto gets something special too?"
"Of course, leave it to me!"
Despite having just eaten several portions of grilled seafood at the stall, Rei headed for the dining hall without the slightest hesitation. True to the girl's word, dinner that night was more lavish than usual, and he ate until he was completely satisfied.
"Octopus? Well, yeah, I've got some... but you've got strange tastes, kid."
The day after capturing the pirates, Rei was back on the City of Emocion's main street with Seto. He was using his recent windfall to buy up octopus and various other seafood. By now, the total he had spent on seafood in this city had reached several gold coins. To Rei, the City of Gilm was still his true home base, so he wanted to stockpile as much as possible while he had the chance. He didn't feel like he was wasting money at all.
Of course, this was only possible because of the Misty Ring. Under normal circumstances, such a massive haul would rot long before it could be consumed.
"And also..."
He trailed off, going through a mental checklist of ingredients.
(Whether I make takoyaki or okonomiyaki, I’m going to need dashi. But...)
He scanned the shop's inventory, but all he saw were fish and shellfish. There wasn't a single scrap of kombu or any other seaweed in sight.
"Do you sell seaweed here?"
"Huh? Sea grass? Why would I sell that? It's not like it's worth anything."
"...What?"
Rei stared at the merchant in genuine shock. He couldn't believe that staple ingredients like kombu or wakame weren't for sale.
Rei hadn't realized it, but even on Earth, the number of cultures that ate seaweed was incredibly small. Outside of Japan, there were only a handful of countries that viewed it as food. It seemed Elgin was no different. To the merchant in front of him, seaweed was nothing more than a useless weed from the ocean floor.
"Ah—right. I see. Sorry for asking something weird."
"Sure thing. Stop by again if you need more fish!"
Seen off by the merchant, Rei walked away with Seto, his brow furrowed in thought.
(This is a problem. I never imagined they wouldn't sell kombu. Without it, I can't make a proper dashi, which means no takoyaki... and no okonomiyaki either. They have yams since it's a port town, but... should I give up on them for now? Or maybe try a meat-based dashi? Meat dashi in takoyaki? Well, it's worth a trial run. But if that's the case, I definitely shouldn't waste time having a blacksmith make a specialized griddle. If the recipe fails, the tool would just end up gathering dust. I'll start with okonomiyaki—that can be made on a standard iron plate.)
Having settled on a plan, Rei began wandering the market again, searching for someone who might let him use an iron plate and looking for other ingredients to salvage his recipe.