Cooking Showdown (2)

Is it around here?

I used teleportation to get near here, but it’s been a while since I last came, so my sense of direction is off. It’s inevitable since the place Rurin imagines and the place I’m thinking of are different.

“I am Rurin~! Rurin~! It’s me~!”

Meanwhile, Rurin began singing after humming a tune and started circling around me.

“What on earth are you doing?”

“This is my entrance song. Since we’ve come to a new place, I need to announce my arrival.”

I asked, hoping she’d stop, but her response was even more absurd.

“I’ve been here before, right? That’s why I could teleport here, so how is this a new place?”

“I am Rurin~ And this ring is also Rurin~!”

Then she spun around again, stretching her hand toward the sunlight, continuing to admire her ring. I really can’t tell when her love for that ring will end.

She spun around me so much that it made me dizzy.

I decided to ignore her and looked around to find the path again.

I’m lost here because of what Nirip said. If I hadn’t known, it wouldn’t have mattered, but since the boy who helped me before needs help, I have no choice but to stop by.

“Rurin.”

“What?”

“Shall we fly?”

“Fly?”

I don’t use magic. Only creatures made for flight can stay in the air. So if we want to fly, she’ll have to transform into a dragon.

“How about transforming for the first time in a while?”

“Wh-what are you saying?!”

Rurin’s face turned bright red as she jumped in shock, backing away.

“Do you hate it that much? That’s quite the reaction.”

“You. I’m getting angry.”

Aren’t you already angry?

Of course, turning into a dragon here would cause chaos, so I was only joking. I shrugged and patted her back.

“Alright, alright. It was just a joke. Just a joke.”

But Rurin had already turned her head away sharply.

“Sometimes you’re too much! I demand improvement!”

She shouted, puffing out her cheeks. Her expression was one of frustration, wondering why I didn’t understand why she didn’t want to become a dragon.

“I get it, calm down. Your cheeks are going to burst. Besides, turning into a dragon here would terrify the village; it’s out of the question.”

“I don’t care!”

She’s really upset now.

But if I leave her alone, she’ll get over it soon. If she were really upset, she’d go expressionless, not puff up her cheeks.

So I focused on finding the right direction again. If I don’t know the way, it’s better to go downhill to find the path – that’s the best way to deal with being lost in the mountains.

Having made that decision, I grabbed Rurin’s hand and started dragging her along as we walked aimlessly.

As we kept walking, a somewhat familiar landscape came into view.

I think I fought a battle around here before?

It definitely looks familiar.

So, does that mean we’re on the right path?

“Rurin, I think we’re heading in the right direction… Huh? What are you doing?”

Rurin was up to something strange again. When I asked, her voice replied with a mix of emotions.

“Something weird fell on my ring and hand!”

Something must have gotten on her hand. She took off her ring and started wiping it vigorously with her sleeve.

“Is it clean now?”

She kept wiping for a while, then with a teary expression, held up the ring to the sunlight to check.

Hmm?

If something fell from the sky on a clear day like this, it was probably bird poop…but I decided not to mention it.

If only Rurin’s misfortune had ended there.

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Suddenly, a bird swooped in and snatched the ring right out of her hand.

“Kyaaaaa!”

Of course, Rurin was furious.

“No matter how much I’ve refrained from releasing my power lately, for a mere creature to dare- dare challenge meeeee!”

BOOOOOM-!

Rurin let out a breath attack from her mouth, but the bird had already flown away.

“Stop right there!”

“Stop!”

“Ugh, damn it! Power!”

Because of her power, even the other birds in the area started fleeing in terror, and soon the entire mountain turned into chaos.

“H-huh?”

Rurin blinked, momentarily dazed. Then, perhaps realizing that magic would be better than brute force, she quickly began running after the bird.

But, knowing that using the wrong spell could make the ring drop somewhere harder to find, she was being very cautious with her magic.

What a mess.

I chased after Rurin. Just as we were finally getting somewhere familiar, now we had to go in the opposite direction.

I can’t catch a break.

“Rurin!”

How far did she go?

After running for quite some time, I finally spotted Rurin up ahead. She was on her knees, clutching the bird, choking it. When she saw me approach, she jumped up, holding the bird, and dashed toward me.

“Youuuuuu!”

The bird she was holding looked like a pheasant, a species quite common in this region.

The bird Rurin held had been pierced by an arrow. It looked like she hadn’t caught it with her breath attack; the arrow meant someone else had taken it down.

“This bastard! This bastard ate my ring!”

Rurin looked like she was about to cry as she complained. Of course, there’s no need for that – if the bird swallowed it, that’s actually a good thing.

“If it ate it, we can just take it out. Calm down. At least it didn’t drop in the forest, so it’ll be easier to find.”

“Th-that’s true, but still!”

Rurin held the bird like it was something precious. Seeing Rurin treat something with care, other than jewels, was a rare sight. I wonder if I’m the only living thing that’s ever been in her arms like that?

Am I seriously feeling jealous of a dead bird right now?

“Um, excuse me… I hunted that…”

In the midst of all that, a man with a bow and arrow cautiously approached us. I looked up at him. He seemed very familiar.

“Huh?”

“By any chance, are you the General?”

He also seemed surprised and called out to me.

So, I pointed at him as well.

“You’re that…?”

“I knew it! Yes, I’m Duran! I was the one who guided you back then!”

“Oh, it’s you! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

It turned out that coming this way was a stroke of luck. I found the person I was looking for, so the wandering was finally over.

“Really, it has!”

“You’ve grown quite a bit, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I’m still in my growth spurt.”

He’s almost at the age of adulthood. It’s only natural he’d grow. I nodded and smiled at him.

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll return the bird soon. But first, could you guide us to your house?”

“Of course!”

Duran nodded eagerly as well.

The restaurant was modest.

Duran’s mother, Bissera, had lost her husband in the war and raised Duran all by herself.

Given how many lives were lost in the battle back then, it wasn’t uncommon. Especially in a place like this, which was right in the middle of the war.

So here I was, cutting open the bird, which they called a “Ma’a” here. Rurin had the kind of face that suggested she might cry if I didn’t get the ring out soon.

“Oh, here it is.”

As I continued to dissect it, I quickly found the diamond ring. Thankfully, she hadn’t confused it with any other bird. Good eyesight, I guess.

No, wait. She’s a dragon – having sharp eyesight is only natural.

Not that being human or dragon really matters between us.

Anyway, the moment I found the ring, Rurin started acting out again, but for a different reason.

“Ohhh! Give it to me!”

She snatched the ring from my hand at lightning speed, dropped to the floor, and started washing it with water.

“Once it’s clean, I’ll never take it off again!”

She made her firm declaration.

I let her be and stepped out of the kitchen, where the mother and son were watching me with bewildered expressions. I decided to get back to the main topic.

“So, how have you been?”

Back then, Bissera had nodded in approval when her young son wanted to take on dangerous tasks, wanting him to avenge the ones who took his father.

“Yes. I used the gold coins you gave me back then to start this restaurant, thinking about what I could do. Cooking was the only thing I felt confident in. I really can’t thank you enough for that time.”

“No, it was a fair payment. Please, have a seat. Duran, you too.”

“Yes!”

As soon as the two sat down, I subtly introduced the reason for my visit.

We couldn’t just keep exchanging pleasantries forever; it was time to get to the point.

“Actually, the dwarf fellow passed by here, and it got me worried, so I decided to stop by after a long time.”

“Oh, really? I-I’m so sorry!”

Bissera, looking surprised, quickly bowed her head. She must have felt guilty for making me come all this way, so I adjusted my tone a bit.

I didn’t want to make her feel burdened.

“It’s nothing. I had other business in the area, so I thought I’d stop by as well. There’s no need to apologize. Please, take a seat.”

“I-I see. But, General…”

They still called me General. When we first met, I was the commanding officer, so it made sense, but it feels uncomfortable now.

“Ah, I’m retired now, so could you just call me El?”

“Wow, really? You retired?”

“Yes. Now that peace has come, I’ve opened a restaurant myself, actually.”

There was no point in hiding it. As soon as I mentioned the restaurant, both mother and son jumped up in shock.

“Whaaaat?”

“The General opened a restaurant?”

“It’s not like I run anything fancy enough to give others orders, but I thought if we put our heads together, we might come up with something helpful.”

“I-I see. Thank you so much!”

Bissera bowed her head once again.

“El! The truth is…business hasn’t been going well lately. There was a time when things were going great, but suddenly…”

Duran, despite Bissera shaking her head, began to speak honestly about their current situation.

“Yes, I’ve heard that too. Let’s come up with a solution together. Three heads are better than two, right?”

Excluding the dragon who’s obsessed with her ring, that makes three of us.

“How bad has it been recently?”

I directed my question toward Duran, expecting a more straightforward answer from him, and he quickly responded.

“It’s been terrible. General…I mean, El!”

“Terrible?”

“Yes. Actually, a new restaurant opened nearby that serves the same menu as us. It’s run by a large merchant guild, so they’ve taken all of our customers.”

I didn’t want to rely on just Duran’s perspective, so I looked over to Bissera for confirmation.

“Is that true?”

Eventually, Bissera started speaking honestly as well.

“Yes. The taste is similar, but their prices are much cheaper than ours. If we lower our prices any more, we’d be running at a loss…”

It was just as Nirip had said – things were really looking bad for them.

“Excuse me, but what’s your main dish?”

A typical restaurant wouldn’t operate the way I do, just serving whatever they feel like on a whim.

“Ah, it’s a traditional village dish made with Ma’a eggs and noodles from wheat flour, served in Ma’a broth.”

“So, is the competing restaurant serving the same dish?”

“Yes…they’re selling the same noodles.”

“Hmm. Could you show me the dish? As they say, seeing is believing.”

“Of course! Oh, how forgetful of me.”

Bissera said that and hurried into the kitchen.

As Bissera left, Rurin came out of the kitchen and sat next to me.

She was satisfied now that the ring was back on her finger.

“By the way, do you always hunt your own ingredients like that?”

“Yes, it’s the best way.”

The Ma’a birds are plentiful in the hills behind them, so hunting them directly makes sense. That was a pointless question.

At least it means their ingredients are incredibly fresh.

Of course, the competing restaurant likely has the same advantage.