"Oh, Rei. Welcome back."
Marina, who had just brought out the food, offered a bright smile.
She was beaming — no doubt because she had secured that much food money from Daskar. Stolen, rather.
On the plate she carried was a whole roast Mountain Bird.
She must have used herbs and spices, because an appetite-stimulating aroma drifted through the air around them.
"Yeah. ...That dish looks incredible."
"It does, doesn't it? Since we're throwing a welcome party for Gaga — and Zozo, though his is a bit late — I decided to go with something a little extravagant."
"Ah... right. Keep it reasonable. Lord Daskar is apparently worn thin as it is."
"I'll handle that optimistically. More importantly, are you sure we should leave those two alone?"
Following Marina's gaze, Rei turned to see Vihera staring at Gaga with a delighted — genuinely delighted — look in her eyes.
"Yeah. I think someone should say something, but... do you honestly think Vihera would stop?"
"Wouldn't it be better to stop her? Besides, we're about to have a welcome party, and I'd rather she not kick up dust right before it."
At those words, Rei turned his attention back to Vihera.
She had probably heard the situation from Marina.
For Vihera, simply having a strong opponent nearby was a thrill in itself.
After all, Gaga possessed enough skill to fight on even footing — more or less — with Rei.
In that sense, among everyone currently at Marina's house, Vihera was probably the one who welcomed Gaga's presence the most.
"Vihera, leave it at that. Let's start with the welcome party first."
"...I see. So battles come after meals, is that it?"
At Rei's words, Vihera nodded in understanding, though she looked slightly reluctant.
The fact that Vihera had worked all day and was naturally starving played a large part in her compliance.
There was also the consideration that if she went on a rampage in a place surrounded by this much food — if she did something like flip the table — Byune would be upset.
That was why she obediently backed down.
'Lord Rei, I explained the situation to Gaga. He says he has no objection to a mock battle after the meal.'
"That's what he says."
As Rei showed the Stone Tablet to Vihera, her face broke into a happy smile — one that seemed to come from the very bottom of her heart.
That smile was so beautiful that even Gaga, a being of a different race — no, someone who literally lived in a different world — found his eyes drawn to it.
Seeing Vihera's smile, Gaga said something to Zozo.
Zozo looked startled and said something back... and eventually, Gaga's expression turned deeply disappointed.
What on earth happened? Rei wondered, but for now, the welcome party food Marina had prepared was more pressing than such concerns.
(It's not really my place to say, but with this many people here and Marina being the only one who can cook... what does that say about the rest of us, myself included?)
When camping as part of his adventurer work, he did make simple meals — things like boiling dried meat with salt and tossing in edible wild herbs from the area to make a basic soup.
...In Rei's case, he didn't even need to do that, since he had a massive amount of food stored in his Misty Ring.
Regardless, everyone other than Marina — Rei included — fell far short when it came to cooking.
The proof was the array of dishes lined up on the table for the welcome party.
Though the real reason today's spread had turned out this lavish was the war fund Marina had extracted from Daskar as Gaga's food expenses.
"Well then, since everyone's here, shall we begin?"
That was Elena.
Ara was watching Gaga with a slightly wary gaze, but Elena merely observed him with interest.
"Before we begin, what about Gaga's chair? ...The chairs we use would definitely break. Actually, he probably can't even sit in one to begin with."
Naturally, the chairs Rei and the others used belonged to Marina's house.
Someone Zozo's size could still manage to sit in one, but for Gaga — who stood roughly three meters tall and for whom the phrase "heavily muscled" was an understatement — such a chair would be nothing more than a toy.
If Gaga sat in one of those chairs, it would unquestionably break.
"Ah, about that..."
Marina, having set the dishes on the table, asked the Earth Spirit to mound up earth near the table.
Draping a spare tablecloth over the earth created a makeshift — but functional — chair.
Seeing this, Gaga was surprised once again.
"Zozo, I'll ask just in case — are there any mages among the Lizardmen?"
'There are. However, whether it's a racial trait or not, their numbers are quite few.'
As far as Rei knew, mages among the Lizardmen were rare.
This likely meant that Lizardmen were simply less likely to produce mages, both in this world and in the other world.
Of course, even among humans, those possessing enough aptitude to become a fully-fledged mage were quite rare.
Even so, human mages appeared more numerous overall simply because the population base was so much larger.
The same principle applied to monsters that existed in large numbers, such as Goblins, Cobolts, and Orcs.
"I see. ...Well, Lizardmen have higher base physical ability than humans. Naturally, their strength leans toward physically moving their bodies rather than magic."
'When you say it, Lord Rei, I find myself unable to honestly nod in agreement.'
Watching Gaga settle into the makeshift chair of earth and tablecloth, Zozo spoke.
For Zozo, the fact that Rei had fought Gaga one-on-one on even terms — no, not in the sense of each using their true trump cards, but that Rei had beaten Gaga in pure physical ability — was something he simply could not believe.
After all, Gaga's physical prowess was, as far as Zozo knew, among the very highest in the Gran Dragonia Empire.
Rei, who was barely half of Gaga's height, had beaten such a man in raw physical ability.
Of course, since Zozo followed Rei out of admiration for his strength, Rei defeating Gaga was extremely pleasing to him.
It was pleasing, but even so, he could not bring himself to honestly nod along with Rei's words.
However, Rei did not seem to notice Zozo's reaction.
He was too captivated by the food Marina had prepared.
"Gruu!"
"Kyu!"
Set and Ielo, much like Rei, let out cries declaring their hunger.
"Nn."
Byune also radiated an air of wanting to eat soon. ...Her expression remained unchanged, as always.
Seeing their states and confirming that Gaga had lowered himself into the chair with some hesitation, Marina placed a cup of cold Fruit Water before each of them.
The chill, too, was the work of Marina's Spirit Magic.
"Alright then, Rei. Lead the toast, please."
"Me?"
"Naturally, isn't it? You're the leader of the Crimson Lotus Wings."
Rei accepted the charge, though the gathering included Elena, Ara, Zozo, and Gaga — many who were not members of the Crimson Lotus Wings.
In fact, it wouldn't be far off to say nearly half the attendees were outsiders.
He couldn't help but wonder whether he should really be the one leading the toast in this situation. But thinking about it more carefully, Rei was the only one here connected to everyone present, including the newcomer Gaga.
If that was the case, then leading the toast himself was the only option. He raised his cup of Fruit Water.
"To Zozo and Gaga's arrival — and with any luck, nothing else will go wrong from here on. Cheers!"
'Cheers.'
At Rei's words, everyone other than Zozo and Gaga raised their cups.
Seeing that, Zozo and Gaga followed suit and raised theirs as well.
...Though the cup in Gaga's massive hands looked so small it might as well have been a toy.
Everyone drank the cold Fruit Water and set their cups on the table.
"We'll need to buy Gaga his own cup. It'll have to be custom-made, so it won't be cheap."
Even as she said it, a smile played across Marina's face.
That was because the funds for Gaga's living expenses — not just food — would be footed entirely by Daskar.
Might as well buy something top-of-the-line, Marina reasoned.
In fact, since Gaga was the Third Prince of the Gran Dragonia Empire, he needed to be provided with a corresponding standard of living during his stay in Gilm.
By that logic, purchasing a high-end cup was a perfectly legitimate expense.
"Don't give Lord Daskar too much of a stomachache."
Offering that with a hint of exasperation, Rei reached for the food on the table.
His first pick was the roast Mountain Bird.
It was the dish that had been releasing its appetite-stimulating aroma from the moment he arrived.
Slicing into the Mountain Bird with a knife, the wild vegetables and nuts packed inside spilled out.
Precisely because they had been nestled within, those ingredients had thoroughly absorbed the meat's umami — which only further stimulated the appetite.
'Oh.'
Voices of admiration escaped from the others watching Rei carve the bird.
Portioned from the large platter onto Rei's plate, the dish simply looked that delicious.
"This is... incredible, Marina. You made this too?"
Seeing Rei eating with what was unmistakably genuine delight, Vihera turned to Marina.
At Vihera's reaction, Marina smiled and nodded.
"That's right. It's normally a time-consuming dish, so I used Spirit Magic to shorten the cooking time... but it's delicious, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's delicious. The skin is roasted crisp, yet the meat isn't overcooked and stays tender, and the filling inside is cooked all the way through."
By Rei's common sense, thoroughly cooking the interior fillings required roasting the meat for a long time.
In other words, he would have expected the meat itself to become overcooked and dry.
But this Mountain Bird's meat was remarkably tender, and the wild vegetables and nuts inside were saturated with meat juices.
With Rei's cooking knowledge, he couldn't even begin to imagine how someone could pull this off.
(She mentioned using Spirit Magic to cook it, so maybe that had something to do with it? ...I have no idea what kind of technique she used, though.)
It wasn't that Rei had never cooked back in Japan, but his skills were roughly on par with an ordinary high school student's.
Well, growing up in the countryside, he had eaten nature's bounty fairly often, so he might have been slightly above average.
Even so, that was only slightly — and he had absolutely no idea how one would go about making a dish like this.
(If you brush honey on it and roast it, the outside gets crispy, right? When they did a feature on Peking Duck on TV, I feel like I might have seen something like that... or maybe not. But even then, that's only the outside. Who knows if you could get the inside to turn out like this.)
For a short while he puzzled over how Marina might have prepared the dish, but as he continued savoring it, such thoughts gradually ceased to matter.
Right now, he simply wanted to lose himself in the flavors.
Seeing Rei's state, the others also reached for the roast Mountain Bird, and each declared it delicious.
Zozo, despite his love of Fish, heartily enjoyed the Mountain Bird dish as well. Gaga said something in an excited tone.
What exactly he was saying, Rei couldn't understand.
He couldn't understand the words, but from Gaga's high spirits, it was clear enough he was expressing how good it tasted.
"Hehe, I'm glad everyone's so pleased. ...But the other dishes are delicious too, so please try them."
Eating a stir-fry of wild vegetables and Orc meat, Marina spoke with satisfaction.
For Marina, having people enjoy the food she had made this enthusiastically was probably an immense source of gratification.
Also a significant factor: being able to use expensive ingredients without a second thought — with Daskar's money.
"The wild vegetables used in this stew here... are these also mountain vegetables? I don't think I've had these before."
As a palate cleanser from the roast Mountain Bird, Elena tried the stew and spoke up, sounding mildly surprised.
Generally speaking, the appeal of mountain vegetables lay in savoring their natural flavor.
That was why simple preparations were the norm.
Given that, one would normally think that using mountain vegetables in a richly seasoned dish like stew would fail to bring out their taste.
But Marina's stew was something that fully drew out the flavor of the mountain vegetables.
How exactly one would cook to create a stew that so perfectly showcased those flavors was beyond Elena's understanding.
Seeing Elena's reaction, Rei also tried the stew.
"This is... delicious..."
Where Rei had lived in Japan was the Tohoku countryside, in a place near the mountains.
Because of that, when spring came he would go out and pick various mountain vegetables. But even using those, he had absolutely no idea how one could make a stew like this.
Marina watched the reactions of Elena, Rei, and the others with a smile.
And so the welcome party came to an enjoyable close... and afterward, Vihera immediately had her mock battle with Gaga.