Unexpectedly—and fortunately for Rei—both Anastasia and Fana took it upon themselves to care for the women rescued from the Goblin settlement as soon as they returned to the campsite.
Even Fana, who was normally shy around strangers, actively tended to them.
There was no doubt that this was a huge help to everyone present, Rei included.
(I never expected Anastasia to be this proactive about looking after the women, did I?)
With that thought, Rei produced various cloths as Anastasia directed.
"Come to think of it, where will the women sleep? My Magic Tent—"
"Rejected."
Anastasia cut him off before he could finish offering to lend it.
Rei himself wasn't particularly keen on lending his Magic Tent to others, so if she refused, he had no intention of pushing the matter.
But even so, he hadn't expected to be shot down quite so readily, and he gave her a surprised look.
Meeting his gaze, Anastasia fixed him with one of exasperation.
"Listen. The Magic Tent is the one you use all the time, right? I don't think it's a good idea to make women who've been through what they have sleep in a man's tent. No matter how comfortable the Magic Tent is, the spare tent that nobody's used today is better."
Is that how it works? Rei wondered. But since Anastasia said so, he accepted it.
In truth, the fact that they had a fair number of spare tents on hand was also a major factor in there being no issue.
If they hadn't, they might have reluctantly used Rei's Magic Tent.
"Come on, if you understand, go set up the tent. The spot is next to mine."
Urged on by Anastasia, Rei judged there was little else he could do in this situation... but then he stopped mid-step and pulled out a pot.
"Anyway, those women won't have any energy if they're hungry. Let them drink this."
What Rei took out was vegetable soup—made entirely from vegetables, without a trace of meat.
Since it contained no meat, it wasn't very popular among the male adventurers, but the female adventurers received it reasonably well.
It took a great deal of time and effort to make, so the fact that it cost more than even soups with meat in them was perhaps another reason it wasn't favored by the meat-loving men.
"Oh, how thoughtful of you. Those girls should be able to drink this, so we'll gratefully accept it."
With that, Anastasia took the pot, ladle, plates, and spoons from Rei and walked away.
After seeing her off, Rei scanned the area for Set.
He soon spotted him playing with the Water Wolf.
...Though "playing" was only how it looked from Set and the Water Wolf's perspective.
To the onlookers, it looked like a mock battle—no, a full-on fight.
"Hey, Rei. Set and the Water Wolf... you sure we don't need to stop them?"
One of the adventurers asked, but Rei shook his head.
"For all it looks rough, they're just playing. No need to worry."
"...Is that so?"
Objectively speaking, it was hard to see it that way at all.
It was hard to see it that way, but... since Rei was Set's owner and the Water Wolf's designated negotiation partner, the adventurer accepted it.
Even so, he still watched the two of them with concern.
"Well, it's a bit late, but let's have dinner."
At Rei's words, even those who had been worried about Set and the Water Wolf smiled as if they had been waiting for exactly this.
Rei said "dinner," though the sun had already fully set.
Even so, thanks to the campfire and the still-burning slime, there was no shortage of light.
Some had been so hungry they had already been toasting bread or fish over the fire, and for those people too, Rei's words were exactly what they had been waiting for.
He began pulling out dishes from his Misty Ring one after another.
The moment that lifted everyone's spirits the most was when he produced a block of Orc meat—a slab that looked to be at least thirty kilograms.
Naturally, it wasn't raw. It had been slowly cooked through and was ready to eat as-is.
As a dish, it wasn't anything particularly special, but roasting and eating a large cut of meat—even if not quite a whole roast—was something that stirred a man's instincts.
That said, the cheers weren't entirely genuine. There was a fair amount of forcing it involved.
The fact that they had failed to completely annihilate the Goblin settlement and let the High-ranking Species or Rare Species that led it escape was clearly still weighing on everyone's minds.
Even so, they pushed through and enjoyed dinner amid the noise.
Meat, bread, fish, vegetables—dishes using a variety of ingredients had been prepared, and they dug in.
"Wan!"
Into that dinner setting, the Water Wolf made its appearance.
Beside the barking wolf lay a rather large fish—easily a full meter long.
"Whoa!"
Everyone cried out in surprise at the sudden appearance of such a massive fish.
A giant fish appearing out of nowhere—it was only natural they'd be startled.
That said, the fish's size also posed a problem.
"How... do we cook this?"
Indeed, there was the question of how to prepare it.
Given its considerable size, trying to grill it whole would make it difficult to cook through to the center.
Which meant the only viable option was to cut it up first.
...Still, cooking while everyone else was already eating wasn't something anyone was eager to do.
Rei was hungry too, just like the rest of them.
"Let me handle it. You have cooking utensils, right?"
That voice came from behind Rei.
When he turned toward it, he saw a woman wearing a mask—Fana.
Fana was normally shy around strangers, but for whatever reason, she was carrying herself with unexpected confidence now.
Somewhat overwhelmed by her presence, Rei pulled simple cooking utensils—a knife, cutting board, frying pan, and pots—as well as various seasonings from his Misty Ring.
"I can only make simple dishes. Is that all right?"
"Eh? Ah, that's fine by me, but... are you sure you're up for it?"
Fana gave a small nod in response to Rei's question.
In reality, her shyness hadn't actually been cured—Rei could tell she was pushing herself.
But Fana had stepped forward out of consideration for them, so he decided to accept her goodwill.
"Excuse me, then."
With that, she used the back of her knife to scrape off the scales, severed the head, split the belly open, and removed the innards.
Given that it was a fish about a meter long, Rei had thought filleting it would be a challenge, but in front of the many watching adventurers and Lizardmen, Fana worked with swift, practiced hands.
Perhaps because she was so focused on the task, she gradually stopped paying attention to the stares around her.
"Wau."
The Water Wolf barked happily, likely because it had swallowed the fish innards whole and absorbed them on the spot.
Whether they actually tasted good, Rei couldn't say.
As a general rule, he removed the innards when eating grilled fish.
There were fish whose innards were prized, of course—much like people who ate the innards of Pacific saury.
For Rei, it didn't matter much either way, but if anything, fish without innards was easier to eat.
This sort of thing came down to personal preference, and he was well aware that back in Japan, his palate had been on the childish side.
...There were a few exceptions, like monkfish liver, but that was neither here nor there.
In any case, the Water Wolf had certainly eaten the fish innards with apparent relish.
Among the adventurers and Lizardmen who witnessed this, many wondered whether those innards had actually been tasty... but then they recalled that the Water Wolf had also devoured Goblin meat just as eagerly, and none of them felt inclined to try it themselves.
(Is it... tasty?)
While he mulled this over, Fana continued preparing the food with efficient movements.
She oiled a large soup pot, chopped the washed fish into chunks, and stir-fried them alongside vegetables—so-called summer vegetables in season—before adding sauce and bringing it to a quick simmer.
As for the remaining fish, she filleted it into three pieces, then grilled the head, backbone, the bones between the fillets, and the belly bones over the campfire before adding them to another pot along with the leftover meat.
For this batch, she used assorted vegetables rather than summer vegetables, stir-frying them before seasoning with the Fish Sauce Rei had purchased some time before.
The result was two different soups, but since they were entirely distinct varieties, both looked equally appetizing no matter which one you eyed.
(Reminds me of jappa-jiru, huh.)
Jappa-jiru was originally a dish from Aomori Prefecture, but where Rei had lived, the name was commonly used and the dish was commonly made.
In short, it was a miso soup made with fish ara.
"We'll be taking this one, then."
Having finished cooking, Fana transferred only her group's portion of the first soup—the one with fish and summer vegetables—into a separate pot and walked away.
What remained was the slightly diminished fish and summer vegetable soup, and the completely untouched fish ara soup.
The men present fell on it, practically fighting over every helping.
"Wan!"
When the Water Wolf barked to indicate it wanted a share too, there was no refusing it—the wolf had, after all, provided the main ingredient for tonight's meal.
And so everyone ate the food Fana had prepared... and the pleasant dinner hour drew to a close.
"Wau... Wauwau."
"Gruu? Grurururu."
Rei watched the Water Wolf conversing with Set, then noticed a faint glow over by the lake and turned his gaze toward it.
There, just as he had seen before, were glowing jellyfish drifting through the air.
"Oh."
At Rei's utterance, those who had finished eating and were relaxing also looked toward the lake, spotting the glowing jellyfish hovering there.
Just like last time, the jellyfish floated through the air and drifted toward the shore, but...
With a jolt.
As if noticing the Water Wolf, the entire group of jellyfish froze simultaneously in midair.
"Wan!"
The Water Wolf let out a single bark toward them.
At that, the jellyfish resumed their approach toward Rei and the others.
The Water Wolf must have given them permission.
Watching a jellyfish extend a tentacle toward his arm, Rei reconsidered the creature.
Given its power and its ability to command the jellyfish, there was no question that the Water Wolf stood at the top of the lake's hierarchy.
Rei had been convinced that the slime—even now still burning—was the lake's apex predator.
But from what he had observed, despite its overwhelming mass, the slime possessed no real intelligence to speak of. The Water Wolf, by contrast, could understand human speech. Its intelligence was clearly superior by far.
If that was the case, wasn't the Water Wolf the one that truly deserved to be called the Lake Master?
In fact, the Water Wolf had even negotiated with Rei's group—though whether what took place that morning could truly be called a negotiation was debatable.
The darkness of night... well, the surroundings were bright enough from the campfire and the burning slime that "night's darkness" wasn't quite accurate, but in any case, as Rei watched the glowing jellyfish in the evening hours, these thoughts turned over in his mind... and the jellyfish, perhaps dissatisfied with Rei's inattention, drifted away.
(Was it my fault for thinking about the Water Wolf while playing with the jellyfish?)
Gazing at the jellyfish floating through the air—"drifting" being the most fitting word for their movement—Rei mused to himself.
Still, since they had already moved away, he judged there was no point in dwelling on it further. He surveyed his surroundings... and noticed several women walking toward where the men were gathered.
(Did something happen?)
Could Goblins have appeared from somewhere? The thought crossed his mind for an instant, but the women showed no signs of panic or attempts to flee.
On the contrary, they were smiling and chatting as they approached where Rei and the others sat.
"..."
When the women arrived before the men, even they couldn't maintain their smiles and grew visibly tense.
Likewise, Rei and the others were at a loss for how to address them in this situation.
As a result, several seconds of silence passed on both sides... and eventually, the woman at the front spoke up.
"Um, thank you. The fish soup was delicious."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it... is what I'd like to say, but it was Fana who made that soup. And the Water Wolf provided the ingredient."
"Wan!"
As if it had heard Rei's words, the Water Wolf barked proudly... and hearing that, everyone laughed, and they all went to admire the glowing jellyfish together.