After finishing the dissection of the sea monsters, including the Baeros, Rei and Kenny returned to Gilm at around three o'clock in the afternoon.
They had fought off the Goblins drawn by the smell of the monster carcasses mid-dissection several times.
Various monsters dwelled in the forest, but every single one that attacked Rei's group this time was a Goblin.
Rei claimed this was because his everyday conduct was virtuous, but... Kenny couldn't bring herself to simply nod along, shooting him a look of sheer exasperation instead.
No matter how much she liked him, she simply couldn't accept the idea that Rei's day-to-day behavior was anything resembling good.
Rei seemed slightly dissatisfied by the look she gave him.
He never went out of his way to pick fights with upstanding, law-abiding citizens.
At least, that was how he saw it.
...Kenny tilted her head, trying to recall if she had ever heard of Rei picking a fight with someone for no reason, and couldn't think of a single instance. But even factoring that in, the things he had done hardly qualified as virtuous.
From Kenny's perspective, a man who could casually sever a noble's limbs without batting an eye couldn't possibly be described as someone with good daily conduct.
Regardless, they had eaten a simple lunch of sandwiches and skewers pulled from Rei's Misty Ring along the way, but while it was enough for Kenny, it was nowhere near enough to fill Rei's stomach.
"So, what's the plan?"
"Hmm. I was thinking of heading to the Full Belly Diner and having them cook up something with the Baeros and the rest."
"Um, is it okay if I come too?"
"Yeah, please do. You helped me dissect the monsters, so it's not really a reward, but..."
"It's fine. ...More importantly, is it really okay to go to the Full Belly Diner? At this hour, lunch should be over and they'll be on break, won't they?"
She asked this out of concern, likely well aware of just how bustling the Full Belly Diner was day after day.
Good food, cheap prices, and large portions.
There was no way a place like that wouldn't thrive. It was packed to capacity nearly every day, forcing them to set up extra tables and chairs outside the dining hall.
It went without saying just how prosperous the place was.
(Do they call it an open terrace even for a cafeteria like this, not a café?)
To Rei, "open terrace" carried an image of stylish establishments.
It wasn't actually all that uncommon a style, but back in Japan, there hadn't been any open terrace shops in the area where he lived, and the only way he'd even known they existed was through TV.
Naturally, the shows featuring open terraces were always about stylish restaurants, so it was hardly surprising he'd formed that kind of impression.
Regardless, they were that busy... and at this hour, with few customers around, Kenny was essentially asking if it was really all right to interrupt what little precious break time they had. At her words, Rei thought for a moment, then nodded.
"The one running the Full Belly Diner, Dishot, is incredibly driven when it comes to the pursuit of cooking. If a cook like him gets his hands on an ingredient from a monster like the Baeros, there's no doubt it'll spark his creative impulses."
That was a certainty in Rei's mind.
As a cook, there were probably many in Gilm who stood on equal footing with Dishot.
But from what Rei knew, very few approached their craft as earnestly as Dishot did.
Present him with unknown ingredients—especially a fish monster that would be impossible to obtain in Gilm—and he would unquestionably bite with unbridled glee.
(It might be interesting to show him some ordinary fish too, not just the Baeros.)
Aside from monsters like the Baeros, the total amount of seafood Rei had obtained on this vacation easily reached the level of several tons when all combined.
Between what he caught himself and what they purchased in Garanka, that estimate was a breeze.
With that much seafood on hand, it would normally last for years... no, if they didn't eat seafood every day, they probably wouldn't have to worry about running out for even longer.
However, considering the ones doing the eating were Rei, Set, Byune, and the like, it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that they would consume it all in under a year... or even in a matter of months.
"Really? Understood. I'll drop the carriage off at the Guild and meet you at the Full Belly Diner, then."
Kenny said this with a smile.
Rei nodded and climbed down from the carriage... and the two split up.
If it were entirely up to Kenny, a one-on-one meal with Rei would ideally be at a restaurant with more ambiance than the Full Belly Diner... but as long as she could eat with him, she kept her dissatisfaction to herself.
After all, the main point of this meal was to eat the seafood Rei had caught.
Given that, they needed a place where they could bring their own ingredients and have them cooked... and the kind of atmospheric restaurant Kenny longed for didn't offer that sort of service.
Strictly speaking, there might be some places that did, but at the very least, Kenny didn't know of any.
"Yeah. You helped me out a lot today, so it's on me."
"Hehe, I'm looking forward to it."
With that, Kenny headed toward the Guild with the carriage.
Rei's comment about being helped was no mere flattery.
In truth, if Kenny hadn't assisted during the monster dissection, a fair amount of the meat would have likely been rendered unusable as ingredients.
Or the edible portions might have been left clinging to the bone.
Thanks to Kenny's decent cooking skills, they had managed to keep ingredient waste to an absolute minimum.
In that sense, the option of not expressing his gratitude to her simply didn't exist for Rei.
After seeing off the carriage Kenny rode, he began walking toward the Full Belly Diner...
"Hey, take a good look at this overnight-dried fish! It's handmade by me! And yet, what is the meaning of this price?!"
"As soon as they find out it's handmade by you, nobody's gonna buy it! Hey, knock it off! Don't get up in my face flexing your muscles like that!"
...He caught a familiar voice and a scream from somewhere nearby, but Rei merely glanced in the direction, spotted exactly who he expected to see, and left the area without calling out to them.
He judged there was no need to interrupt Bistol's business negotiation.
The person Bistol was haggling with probably thought Rei could be their saving grace if he spoke up... but unfortunately, that wouldn't happen.
(Well, good luck.)
Rei knew exactly how hard Bistol had worked, making dried fish every single night.
So he silently prayed for his effort to be rewarded... and continued on his way to the Full Belly Diner.
"As expected, not many people around at this hour."
Rei, having reached a spot where he could see the Full Belly Diner, looked around, but there weren't many figures in sight.
Still, it was far more than before the expansion construction had begun.
Even so, the number of people nearby was small compared to the lunch or evening rush.
There were a fair number of patrons aiming for a slightly late lunch, an early dinner, or even just a quick snack at the Full Belly Diner, the surrounding cafeterias, or the food stalls...
As he stepped inside the Full Belly Diner...
"My, welcome, Rei-san."
Dishot's wife, Enedra, stood up happily upon seeing him.
To Enedra, Rei was the benefactor who had saved their shop.
Of course, when Rei first became involved with the Full Belly Diner, the place hadn't been on the verge of bankruptcy.
Even so, in terms of profits, it was undeniably much lower than it was now.
But thanks to the udon recipe Rei taught them, the shop's sales skyrocketed.
...The fact that it became so packed they could no longer run it with just the family was unexpected, however.
On top of that, many people had now come to Gilm to work on the expansion construction, and these workers generated unprecedented sales day after day.
It was enough to make one think they might collapse from sheer busyness.
Despite the circumstances, Enedra didn't show a hint of fatigue as she welcomed him.
There were still a few customers inside the dining hall, and at her words, they all turned to look at Rei, wondering what was going on.
"It's been a while. I got my hands on some unusual ingredients, so I came by to have Dishot take a look at them."
"Let's see 'em."
Before Rei could even finish his sentence, Dishot emerged from the kitchen and barked the words.
His surly demeanor was as present as ever, but Rei didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest, pulling out several fish, shellfish, seaweed, and octopus from his Misty Ring.
As he watched, Dishot's usual stony expression gradually gave way to surprise... and when Rei finally produced a fillet of Baeros, his astonishment was plain for anyone to see.
"This meat... no, it's fish. To be this big... is it a monster?"
"Yeah. It's a fish monster called a Baeros. Apparently quite rare; I only figured it out after searching through the library. The meat is supposedly pretty delicious."
"...Can I touch it?"
"Sure. I'd be even happier if you could cook something with it, actually. We just finished dissecting it, so I skipped lunch."
Technically he had eaten some sandwiches and skewers, but to Rei, that didn't count as a meal; it was merely a snack.
"Got it. I've got a dish I've been wanting to test out, too. Wait a bit."
"One more person is coming later, so make enough for them too."
At Rei's words, Dishot nodded, gathered the ingredients, and retreated to the kitchen.
"Hehe, it's been a long time since I've seen him look that happy."
At Enedra's remark, the customers who had just watched the exchange—including Rei in his own mind—could only silently retort, "Happy expression?!"
Though they didn't say it out loud, Rei and the customers' hearts were undoubtedly united as one.
Even if his acquaintanceship was short, his wife Enedra could probably understand what others couldn't.
Half-forcing himself to accept this, Rei soon watched the shop door open as another customer walked in.
"Ah, Rei-kun. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"No, I haven't been waiting long. Dishot is still cooking, so give it a little more time."
From the conversation between Rei and the customer, Kenny, Enedra understood who his companion was and placed a glass of water for Kenny on the same table as Rei.
The few customers still inside shot Rei looks filled with jealousy when they saw Kenny.
Rei was used to seeing beauties on the level of Elena, whose looks were among the rarest in history. Even so, from his perspective, Kenny was undeniably attractive enough to be called a beauty, so those jealous stares didn't particularly bother him.
"So, what kind of food are we getting?"
"Who knows. I left that entirely up to Dishot, so I won't know until it comes out. ...And right as I say that, here it comes."
True to Rei's words, Dishot approached their table with plates in hand.
Normally, carrying the food out was Enedra's job, but... since this was a test recipe, he likely wanted to hear Rei's impression firsthand.
"Eat up. I haven't decided on a name for it yet, but it shouldn't taste bad."
Contrary to his words, Dishot's expression radiated sheer confidence in his cooking.
Prompted by Dishot, Rei looked down at the plate...
"Huh."
He was impressed by what he saw.
In terms of classification, it was probably a soup.
Visible inside were pieces of fish, thinly sliced and wrapped around udon noodles.
Looking at the udon, which had been cut into bite-sized pieces, it was easy to deduce that the udon had been rolled up like a norimaki and then sliced.
As he popped a piece into his mouth, the flavor of the fish, the texture of the udon, and... the seaweed all melded into one perfect harmony.
(Seaweed?)
Wondering about the texture in his mouth, Rei used a spoon to dissect one of the other pieces in the bowl.
The piece, which could be called a fish-wrapped udon roll, came apart to reveal seaweed scored with multiple slits inside.
Realizing that the udon hadn't been wrapped in the fish slices; rather, it had been wrapped in seaweed, which was then further wrapped in fish meat, Rei ate his soup—no, his udon—with renewed admiration.