#172: Without You (4) — The Archmage's Restaurant

I’ve heard that many dragons are gourmets. They are a species with a developed sense of taste, but from what I could see, this one didn’t eat much.

Even when she ate, it seemed like she just swallowed animals whole without much care.

In short, the worst eating habits.

So I wandered through the forest, planning to lure her with this strategy. Near her lair, likely due to her presence, there wasn’t a single living creature. No fish in the streams, not even common animals.

I had to go deep into the forest. Her lair was near the summit, but I had to descend all the way to the plains below the mountain where her aura could no longer be felt.

This area should be suitable for animals to live.

I started observing the forest to gather ingredients. I hadn’t walked far when some beasts bared their teeth at me.

“Grrrr-!”

A wild beast with leopard-like spots attacked me, drooling hungrily as it clawed at me.

Hmm.

I’ll pass.

Carnivores like that don’t taste good.

I sent the leopard or jaguar – or whatever it was – flying with a magic attack and resumed my search.

Since that creature had been heading this way before attacking me, maybe I should trust its predator instincts.

So I walked in the direction the jaguar had been headed.

The result? Bingo.

After walking a bit, I found a small clearing in the dense forest where a boar-like creature was digging into the ground with its head against a tree.

It was plump.

It looked delicious at a glance. A wild pig. In this world, they call it a wild “uba”.

This was perfect. I’d found the right ingredient to disrupt a dragon’s sense of smell, so I immediately cast a spell to capture it.

But damn it.

I had caught it, but the thought of carrying it all the way back up to the lair made me sigh.

I wondered if I had made a pointless bet, but well, she wouldn’t tell me about the past unless I got her to open up first.

Right now, we couldn’t communicate at all.

I hoped this bet would serve as the spark for conversation. I carved up the necessary parts and climbed back up to the summit.

The real battle starts here.

I pulled out various seasonings from my backpack. I always carry basic cooking tools when I travel alone.

These tools were essential for making this bet work.

The dish I was preparing was uba ribs. Specifically, marinated uba ribs.

I chose it because it was the most aromatic dish I could make in this situation.

Using magic, I hollowed out a large stone and placed the uba ribs inside, marinating them in a sweet soy sauce-based glaze.

Since the meat was incredibly fresh, I didn’t need to do much else.

Naturally, all this was happening right under the dragon’s nose, inside her lair.

To make sure the smell spread well, I had to do it right in front of her. Where else would I do it?

Even during all this, the Black Dragon remained curled up, seemingly uninterested.

Let’s see how long she can keep pretending not to care.

Determined to win, I reignited my resolve and resumed cooking.

I found a flat stone and used Fireball to heat it up. With that kind of temperature, the stone wasn’t much different from a grill.

Especially since a heated stone doesn’t cool down easily.

If I put my hand on it, it would burn instantly.

I placed the marinated uba ribs on the stone that had reached a scorching temperature.

Ssssss-!

The mouthwatering sound of sizzling meat filled the air. As the sweet sauce cooked, the smell spread throughout the entire lair.

Ahh.

I can hardly stand it.

Even I, who am used to it, can hardly resist this hunger-inducing smell. So for a dragon who has never smelled something like this before…

I sneaked a glance at the curled-up dragon. Her body flinched ever so slightly.

But she didn’t turn to look at me. She still acted as if she wasn’t interested.

Alright, then. Let’s start the eating show.

I’m already hungry. I picked up a perfectly grilled piece of uba rib with my chopsticks.

The sauce dripped off, and I brought the tender-looking meat to my mouth.

“Oh, it melts in my mouth!”

I loudly exclaimed my thoughts like a madman. It was truly delicious. The quality of the meat was quite good.

Nom nom.

Chomp chomp.

I devoured the uba ribs like a starving man while continuing to grill more. The sauce had soaked into the stone, filling the air with even more aroma.

Slurp slurp.

I can’t believe uba ribs can be this tender.

“The texture is amazing, and when you bite into it, the juicy uba meat bursts out, blending with the sauce, sweet and salty… Can it really be this good? Don’t you want to try a piece?”

I made that exaggerated comment on purpose, but still, no response came.

As I stuffed more meat into my mouth, I felt like someone was watching me. But this lass was tough – there wasn’t a single movement.

Do I need to make something even more powerful?

But the sun had already set outside. The bet lasted for two days, so I still had one day left.

I checked the dragon’s condition. Her face showed stubborn determination, and she was curled up with her large body, keeping her mouth tightly shut. So, I decided to retreat for now.

And then came night.

And sleep.

And morning.

I got up from bed, stretching.

Then suddenly, I noticed something unusual. I had left the cooked meat on the stone.

I had left it there as bait, just in case.

Cold meat wouldn’t taste that great, but what did I have to lose, right?

But all the large pieces of uba ribs I had grilled were gone.

Every single one.

For a dragon, eating meat of that size wouldn’t even register in her stomach.

Did she use polymorph?

Various thoughts ran through my head. If I had known this would happen, I would have set up a video camera.

Of course, I don’t actually have a video camera.

I was 100% certain, but I had no proof. She had cleaned up neatly. I should have caught her in the act, but I slept too comfortably.

“Hey, Dragon.”

No response. She didn’t even twitch. She was in a deep sleep. Normally, she wouldn’t wake up until the afternoon, and she’d just sit there, staring blankly.

After doing some morning exercises and wandering around, I asked her when she finally woke up in the afternoon.

“You ate it, didn’t you?”

Very directly.

“I didn’t eat it.”

Of course, her reply was a textbook denial.

“Really?”

“I didn’t eat it. That tasteless garbage!”

How would she know it tasted bad if she didn’t eat it? My suspicions were confirmed, and I shrugged.

“But the meat I grilled disappeared.”

“Did you get hungry in your sleep and eat it?”

She turned the question back on me.

“No? I was full, so I left it. Why would I eat it? Do you think I’m you?”

“I am myself. Why would I be you?!”

The dragon turned her head sharply as if she found the conversation bothersome, but she had already lost her cool. She was flustered about something.

That’s what I concluded.

“Hmmm, if I didn’t eat it and you didn’t eat it, that means someone else entered your lair. Is your lair really that poorly guarded? Someone could just walk in?”

“It was bugs.”

“What?”

“I didn’t clean up. So small bugs that can survive my aura must have eaten it. Clean up after you eat.”

“Bugs?”

The dragon shut her mouth again.

“Wow, blaming bugs for this…”

“It was bugs!”

The dragon wouldn’t allow any other explanation, continuing to insist it was bugs as she clammed up again.

So that’s how she’s going to play it, huh?

Well, it doesn’t matter.

In this world, maybe some have never eaten my cooking, but no one can eat it just once and not want more.

…Well, that’s honestly just nonsense.

But given her eating habits, the fact that she couldn’t resist the smell and ate it was promising.

She won’t be able to hold out any longer.

This is actually better.

I’ll just catch her in the act. The best way to prevent her from denying it is to catch her red-handed.

The culprit had eaten all the leftover meat.

If it had tasted bad, she would’ve spat it out after one bite. This was crucial – it meant she might want to eat more.

Now that a dragon has tasted delicious food, I’ll see her end.

I chuckled with an evil grin and started grilling more uba meat.

Sssssss-!

The sound and smell spread again. The dragon began twitching.

This is what they mean by digging your own grave.

“I’m full. Should I get some sleep?”

I gathered the steaming meat to one side, cooled the stone with magic, and then, for show, lay down and closed my eyes.

I wondered how she’d approach this time.

Yesterday, I wasn’t sure, so I genuinely slept to see if she’d take the bait. Today was different.

I closed my eyes for a while.

I kept them closed.

There was no movement for a long time.

She’s being very cautious, isn’t she?

After smelling it like that and having tasted it once, she shouldn’t be able to resist.

Could it have really tasted bad?

As I kept my eyes closed, all sorts of thoughts came to mind. That won’t do.

I have to win this bet, and tonight is my last chance.

Hoping she wouldn’t have much patience, I endured. For hours.

Finally, I caught some movement. And it was very cautious. It wasn’t the movement of a dragon.

It was very light. There wasn’t any heavy stomping.

If a huge body like hers moved, there would naturally be noise. But there wasn’t.

Considering that I didn’t wake up at all yesterday, it seems my guess was right – she must’ve polymorphed to eat the meat.

At that moment, I opened my eyes and looked at the stone where I had gathered the meat.

The scene that unfolded before my eyes.

I couldn’t believe it for a moment.

A very young-looking black-haired girl was holding a handful of meat.

She already had some in her mouth, and sauce was smeared all over her lips.

“Dragon… Did you polymorph? Hahaha, I win.”

When I said that, the dragon blinked a few times and then ignored me, continuing to eat the meat.

“Is ignoring me your answer?”

“I’m not a dragon!”

Oh? Now she’s making ridiculous excuses.

On top of that, her mouth was full of meat, so her pronunciation was off, and since she wasn’t in her dragon form, she didn’t have her usual imposing tone.

“So are you human?”

“I’m not a human either!”

So she’s neither a dragon nor a human? She’s really coming up with all sorts of things.

I laughed and walked toward her. The dragon started backing away.

“Die.”

She said that and tried to cast magic. No, the magic had already formed in her hand…with meat still in her mouth.

“Black Dragon.”

I called out, and she stood up, looking at me.

“What?”

She acknowledged it. By calling her “Black Dragon”, she admitted it. What a simple creature.

“Huh?”

Then, for the first time, her cool expression broke, and instead of coldness, her face was filled with embarrassment. She puffed her cheeks up.