Definitely Oro-Style Ramen

“《Oni Slayer》!!”

Slash!

With a dull sound, the beast’s flesh was carved away. Meiro’s magic froze the remaining magical beast solid, and its vital functions gradually ceased.

“Phew, that scared me. I never thought that many magical beasts would show up~”

“I’ve gotten used to cutting down magical beasts too. Are you all right with the blood?”

“Yeah. I feel bad for them, but if I don’t do it, I’ll be the one getting gobbled up, so I guess I’ve gotten over a lot of things.”

“I see…”

(She probably shouldn’t be getting used to this. If Konoha had never come to this world, she probably would never even have directly killed a living creature.)

A short while earlier, Konoha and Meiro had fought and defeated the next Familiar, Chirchenses. They had obtained one skill from it as a drop.

“《Telepathy》, huh.”

“But now we can talk to each other anytime, anywhere! Yay!”

“Well, just having a way to stop you from getting lost makes it a worthwhile reward. You immediately wander off down strange paths whenever you get the chance. You even acquired Heat Detection, so why do you keep trying to go places where there’s nothing? Are you an idiot?”

“Ugh, that’s mean, Meiro-chan. But I have absolutely no defense… sniff…”

Chirchenses was a humanoid Familiar with three faces, and the Heat Detection skill in its eyes allowed it to find them immediately even when they hid. Because of that, Meiro had been forced to freeze the entire field and manipulate the temperature to blind it, wasting a considerable amount of magical power.

“Still, I’m hungry…”

“Same here. If only we had something to eat.”

“What did the demons eat, anyway? They lived here, right?”

“Basically the same things humans do. Well, if I had to name one difference, they also eat humans.”

“Y-You’re kidding!?”

“That’s why demons are humanity’s natural enemy. Recently, a demon kingdom has even formed in the south, and the Sacred Kingdom is desperately trying to wipe it out. Otherwise, precious food supplies from the Southern Continent will stop coming in.”

“Can’t they… get along?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s completely impossible. But you understand better than anyone that the demons have no intention of doing so, don’t you? Those girls were the perfect example. They kidnapped girls from human settlements and offered them as sacrifices to resurrect the Demon King. That’s exactly the sort of thing scum would do.”

“…Yeah, you’re right. Besides, escaping comes first. We have to get those people back to the surface too.”

“Yes, that’s right. Anyway, we’ve gotten pretty far off topic.”

Grrrrr.

A sound came from Konoha’s stomach. During Class 1-5’s tests, especially during third-period exams, whenever a stomach started growling, it was usually Konoha’s. Her blushing face whenever it happened was reputed to be so adorable that a boy seated in front of her once turned around just to catch a glimpse, was accused of cheating, and was promptly sent straight to the faculty room. Seating arrangements mattered.

“Isn’t there… anything?”

“Right. We’d better find something quickly, or your stomach isn’t going to last. But the creatures inside the labyrinth have been corrupted by miasma, so they probably aren’t edible…”

“Hmm, did I have anything?”

Konoha searched through the item section of her status plate.

“Oh!! I actually packed quite a lot of food! Ah, this is the stuff I took from the kitchen without permission. I wonder if Master is angry…”

“You can cook?”

“I learned from someone amazing after coming to this world~. Master’s really good, you know?”

“And you stole food from that very master.”

“Ugh, I’ll give it back later…”

“You don’t intend to go anywhere near the royal capital for a while, so ‘later’ is probably going to be much later. Anyway, if only we had a pot or something…”

“I have a cooking kit, so I’ll use that. I’ll make you something delicious~!”

Twenty minutes later, Meiro was forced to encounter something completely unknown to her.

“Konoha’s Special Ramen is ready! Order up!”

“WHAT… IS THIS…?”

The ramen Konoha had made was basically miso-based. Naturally, the broth used dried sardines for stock. For the noodles, she used some she had made beforehand from this world’s wheat and kept in storage. Compared to those from her original world, they naturally lacked some firmness, but they still had plenty of satisfying bite. The vegetables included carrots, cabbage, bean sprouts, and more. What truly shocked Meiro, however, was the amount of garlic.

It was definitely J-ro-style ramen.

“Why did you pile so much extra stuff on it…?”

“It tastes great after club activities! My upperclassmen always leave some behind, though… I wonder why.”

L-Let’s share it between the two of us. This is far too much for me alone.”

“Just try it first! Then you’ll understand how delicious it is.”

“Th-Thank you for the food.”

Slurp, slurp. The sound of noodles being sucked up echoed out. It was Meiro’s first time eating ramen.

“How is it?”

Konoha looked anxiously at Meiro. Meiro put down her chopsticks and looked back at Konoha.

“It’s… delicious…”

Her eyes were filled with astonishment. They practically said, Wait, this is actually good!?

“Yay! Hehe, I’ve been able to make ramen since a long time ago~! And udon too.”

“How should I put it… it’s actually properly balanced. It’s much easier on the stomach than it looks. Mmm, mmm. I don’t particularly dislike the soup either.”

“I did it! Wait, Meiro-chan, you know how to use chopsticks?”

“Huh? Oh, these? Yes… for some reason, I seem to know how. I don’t think anything like them exists in this world, though.”

“It must be talent! A talent for chopsticks!”

“What kind of talent is that…?”

“I didn’t even know how to hold chopsticks properly until fourth grade. You were perfect right from the start, Meiro-chan!”

Indeed, despite never having been taught, Meiro’s way of holding chopsticks was flawless. Perhaps it really was a talent.

“I’d really like to make you lots of other things, but we’re definitely short on ingredients. If we had eggs, I’d like some ice cream too.”

“Ice?”

“It’s really sweet! It’s cold and sweet, and when you put it in your mouth, your head goes zing!”

“What is that, medicine?”

“It’s not medicine! It’s dessert!”

“I’m not familiar with the word ‘dessert,’ so you can hardly complain if I assume it’s some kind of medicine.”

“Waaaaah! Meiro-chan, you’re so mean!”

“Hehe. Call me whatever you like.”

It was a pleasant mealtime. Even in a dim labyrinth like this, eating alone was enough to brighten a person’s mood. Whether one ate alone or together with others, it was the same. It was almost like magic.

“Come to think of it, I found this earlier while I was sorting through my things. Meiro-chan, does this look familiar?”

What Konoha took out was a hair ornament set with a hydrangea-colored gemstone. It was the charm the girl from her dreams had given her. A precious charm she had completely forgotten about until now.

Meiro stared at the hair ornament for a while, but eventually shook her head.

“It somehow feels familiar, but no, it’s no good. What is it?”

“Nothing. Sorry. It’s nothing. This is a charm I got from the girl in my dreams.”

“The girl… in your dreams?”

And so, Konoha told her about the best friend whose name and face she did not know, yet whom she had continued meeting for years. The more she talked about it, the stranger it seemed. After all, Konoha knew absolutely nothing about that girl.

“I see. Every day…”

“Yeah. But you know, after coming to this world, I feel like I’ve somehow gotten closer to her. And that’s not all. When I came to this world, I heard her voice. She said, ‘Help me.’”

“Help you?”

“So I think I came here to save her. If things had gone properly, I would’ve become a Hero and said, ‘I’ve come to save you, Princess!!’ before rescuing her… Ahaha.”

“…Then you should just act like a Demon King.”

Meiro muttered.

“Like a Demon King?”

“Yes. Something like, ‘I’m the Demon King who came to abduct you, so shut up and let me carry you away!’”

“Wow, I’d be a villain!”

“Dark heroes have always been surprisingly popular. Depending on the circumstances, they might even be more popular than Heroes.”

“Ahaha… Wait, does that mean being a Hero really is a dangerous job?”

Her classmates came to mind. Even now, they were challenging Mount Godard, fired up by their determination to defeat the Demon King. Even though they had said horrible things to her, they were still her classmates. She was worried about them.

“That, I really can’t say…”

“…I see. Okay, then let’s clean up! We’re probably almost at the final room, right?”

“Yes, most likely. The witch should be in either the next room or the one after it. No one has ever conquered this Demon Palace, so I don’t know the details.”

Konoha stood and began cleaning up the dishes. The basic spell 《Cleaning》 was extremely convenient.

The farther they advanced, the thicker the miasma became. The footing gradually worsened, and the magical beasts lurking within grew increasingly tenacious.

“Yaaaaaah!”

“《Freeze》!”

Even though its feet had been stopped, the magical beast broke free of the ice through sheer brute force and charged at Meiro.

“Skill, 《Quick Draw》!”

Konoha slashed at it from the side. Agate’s blade did not dull, but she could clearly feel that the magical beasts’ flesh was steadily becoming tougher.

Slash.

“Phew. The enemies are getting stronger.”

“Well, this is a Demon Palace that would normally be tackled by a twenty-six-person raid. The fact that the two of us have made it this far is absurd in itself.”

“A raid?”

Konoha asked as she sheathed Agate. It was an unfamiliar word to her.

“Besides the 【Witch’s Treasure Chests】, there are countless zones across the Mercator Continent where enormous monsters lurk. Dragons, minotaurs, krakens, for example. Monsters considered mid-tier in this Demon Palace sometimes reign as the strongest creatures in other Demon Palaces. Defeating them is the adventurers’ job. And the group of party members those adventurers assemble to defeat such creatures is called a 【raid】.”

“Ahh, I think I’ve heard that in games before.”

“The exact number varies somewhat depending on the zone, but twenty-six people is generally the maximum for a raid. If more than that enter the stage, some form of magic activates and prevents anyone beyond the limit from entering. I suppose it’s simply one of the rules of this world.”

“It really does sound like a game! So the fact that the two of us made it this far is actually pretty amazing~”

“Yes. Frankly, it’s almost unbelievable. Now then, here we are.”

Before them stood an enormous door wrapped in a sinister aura. In game terms, it looked exactly like the kind of final stage where the last boss would be lurking.

“Th-This place has an incredible atmosphere.”

“Now that we’ve come this far, let’s defeat the witch and steal her special skill. I believe it was also called a Witch’s Gem?”

“Ah, but only Heroes can use those, right?”

“What are you talking about? Ah, that must be knowledge from the Sacred Kingdom. How ridiculous.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Sacred Kingdom’s books are garbage filled with lies. Their information-control laws seem to be working remarkably well.”

“Wait, they’re lying!?”

“Perhaps that’s why adventurers refuse to enter even when they discover a Witch’s Treasure Chest. There’s no point defeating an enemy who possesses something they themselves supposedly can’t use.”

“So we can use them too?”

“Yes. Now, enough idle chatter. I’m sure the witch has gotten tired of waiting as well.”

Meiro placed her hand on the door.

“Here we go.”

“Okay.”

At last, it was time to meet the witch face-to-face.