Tier I Seeker ②
Hydrangea has several natural parks.
Even with nature all around, there’s still the danger of Monsters, mountain bandits, and thieves.
The Forest to the east, in particular, is deep, and the Witch lives there.
That’s why the natural parks are popular.
There’s a Hero Memorial Statue and a Hero Fountain Statue. The statue depicting all the heroes gathered together is truly a masterpiece.
Within one such natural park lies the Ikoi Plaza.
Despite its peaceful name, it’s vast and often used as a venue for festivals.
Countless triangular tents and round cottages were set up in the plaza.
There were large awnings too. It was completely an Encampment.
Men and women in matching armor were training, checking supplies, and performing other duties.
They were the most heretical group among Seekers: the 『Seeker Knights』.
Their appearance and demeanor were exactly that of a knightly order.
Several were former knights or came from knightly families.
Among the knights, there was one man dressed as a cook.
He was a muscular man wearing a thick, black bandana.
He was humming a tune while cooking something in an outdoor environment that couldn’t exactly be called satisfactory.
“Hmm-hmm♪ Hmm-hmm-hmm♪”
He peeled the skin off some kind of very thick, writhing black tentacle, split it open, and chopped it into chunks.
He tossed these into a boiling stockpot.
Next, he carefully trimmed an overwhelming block of meat, removing only the fat, which he added to the pot.
Instantly, a large amount of scum boiled up from the pot. He meticulously skimmed it off, again and again and again.
Once the scum stopped appearing, he turned off the heat.
“Hmm-hmm-hmm♪ Hmm, hmm♪”
Next, he quickly whisked a large amount of egg yolks, flour, and several seasonings in a bowl.
Mixing it into a ball, he added a thick, gooey liquid and whisked again.
“Jeff-dono. What have you been making…?”
The cook in charge asked timidly.
Jeff kneaded the mixture, flattened it with a rolling pin, smoothed it out evenly, and began cutting it.
He answered midway through the process.
“Ever eaten Kraken?”
“K-Kraken?”
“It’s delicious. Wait up. I’ll let you have some now.”
He stretched the noodles, formed them into balls, and dropped them into another pot of boiling water. In the meantime, he prepared bowls.
He ladled the contents of the pot he’d turned off into the bowls, and once the noodles were done, he added them and mixed everything together.
“Done. Here ya go.”
He handed a bowl to the cook in charge.
It was a noodle dish… coated thickly in something black.
The thick noodles were drenched in the black substance, and no other ingredients were visible.
“…Wh-what is this?”
“Kraken noodles.”
“…”
The cook was bewildered. The visual was utterly unappetizing.
But the person offering it was that Jeff. The cook picked up a fork and hesitantly took a bite.
His world exploded.
“Deeeeeeliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?”
His mind exploded too. His hand wouldn’t stop. His mouth wouldn’t stop. Before he knew it, it was all gone.
Having finished eating, the cook trembled.
What was the food he had been eating up until now?
This cook was formerly a professional chef. He had worked in numerous famous and high-end restaurants.
He was confident in his culinary skills and had created dishes that backed up that confidence.
For the first time, he found cooking terrifying.
He hadn’t understood anything about cooking.
Had he even been standing at the entrance?
He saw it. A deep, endless darkness.
It was the darkness of culinary deliciousness, a place from which one could never return once they stepped foot inside.
But the creator himself merely thought he had made something tasty.
“See? Delicious, right?”
He laughed.
『Strange Cook』 Jeff.
Incidentally, several people fell into the abyss of deliciousness because of the Kraken noodles.
He would later be scolded for going too far.
Inside the largest awning in the Encampment.
A woman stared at a single sheet of paper in her hand and let out a deep sigh.
“What is this?”
She murmured vexedly.
Long hair mixing gold and silver. Burning golden eyes.
Her dignified, beautiful, yet valiant features possessed a fierce beauty that naturally overwhelmed onlookers.
One might call it gorgeous, but it also held the sharp, cutting brilliance of a sword blade.
She wore armor that was slightly more luxurious and differently designed than the others.
That was only natural. For she was the very embodiment of the 『Seeker Knights』.
『Seeker Knights Knight Commander』 Piany Monkshood.
What she had been looking at was the Tsukaeshi request form.
She herself had her attendant, the young girl Hals Bindweed, as her Tsukaeshi.
Normally, one would choose someone of the same gender or a family member as their Tsukaeshi.
“What on earth are they thinking?”
‘They’ referred to the women who had chosen Wof.
She was particularly referring to half of those known, along with Piany, as 『The Impregnable』.
She knew that she and seven other female Tier I Seekers were called 『The Impregnable』.
It wasn’t meant kindly, but as the Knight Commander of the Seeker Knights, she had cast aside romance.
“Wof. I knew he was the Witch’s disciple, but…”
When Piany first heard the Witch had a disciple, she laughed it off as some kind of joke.
However, when she learned it was true, she couldn’t believe her ears, especially upon finding out the disciple was male.
Piany and the Witch had a business relationship—specifically, through Seeker requests.
The Witch was a valued client of the 『Seeker Knights』 and one of their influential employers.
Honestly, it couldn’t be denied that they were treated somewhat like pawns, but they still maintained a friendly relationship with the Witch.
For the past few months, they had been on a long expedition to subjugate dark bandits and hadn’t accepted any requests from the Witch.
“But that’s not the problem.”
She muttered. What worried Piany was the chain of events connected to it.
Alveld, another Tier I Seeker, had attacked the Witch’s disciple.
The Witch retaliated and half-destroyed Alveld’s Clan headquarters.
This alone was a headache.
What were Tier I Seekers doing fighting amongst themselves when the 『Great O’Browns』 was approaching?
Hals returned to the awning.
“Commander. What have you been looking at so intently…?”
“The Tsukaeshi request form.”
“May I see it?”
“Go ahead.”
Piany handed the request form to Hals.
She was a girl with black cat ears, lingering childishness, and perpetually half-lidded eyes.
Her long, thin black Tail stood straight up. Her half-lidded eyes narrowed further.
“Pachira…?”
“Is something wrong?”
“No. It’s just, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a request form like this before?”
“Exactly.”
“Abramelin-shi also chose Wof?”
“I chose to ignore that part.”
“I think I understand how you feel? And Generous’s Reappearance chose him too?”
“I ignored that too. I don’t want anything to do with Edda.”
“I understand that perfectly?”
Hals placed the paper on the desk.
“DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Coming through!”
A large, bare-chested man entered along with a booming laugh.
He had spiky golden hair. A square face with a dazzling smile and a cleft chin.
His muscles bulged, his abs perfectly defined into a six-pack. And his lower half seemed narrow and small in comparison.
“Voban. Voban Fortress.”
“DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Yo. Piany. Hals. Doin’ well? I’m doin’ great. My muscles are burnin’ today too. DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Voban laughed heartily. Hals’s eyes narrowed even more.
“Hello. Voban. What do you need?”
“Nothin’ in particular!”
Voban declared flatly.
Piany and Hals wore indescribable expressions.
Voban paid them no mind and continued laughing.
He was 『Human Fortress』 Voban Fortress.
Cidre Tavern.
“D-damn it all…”
Overcome by the drink, Agaro slumped onto the table.
In that instant, the winner was decided. The surroundings erupted in commotion.
“Weak as ever, boy.”
The woman with flashy, wild red hair sitting opposite him picked up a bottle of Cidre.
Her hair was such a vivid red, a mass of coarse, unruly curls that covered her back.
The thick hair didn’t move an inch even when the wind blew.
She looked to be in her thirties.
Her demeanor was as wild and untamed as her hairstyle, framing a sharp, beautiful face with a fierce glint in her eyes.
And what immediately stood out was that her eyes were different colors.
Her left eye was bright red, with a vertical slit like a reptile’s. A Monster’s eye.
The other was a black pupil. A perfectly normal eye.
She wore light clothing, and her chest, particularly large, was always boldly exposed.
Chains were wrapped around her tattered trousers, connected to the pommel of a scimitar at her lower back.
And she wore a black gauntlet on her right arm. It was a suit-like gauntlet covering her from fingertips to shoulder.
Small black Horns of a similar texture sprouted from her head.
“D-don’t call me boy…”
“A boy’s a boy. Well, you’ve gotten a little better, but you’re still weaker than Arifa. The Flame Tongue Oi gave ya is cryin’.”
“Tch… Dammit…”
Agaro passed out drunk, looking frustrated.
Seeing his face, she drained the Cidre.
『Dragon-Eyed Heroine』 Dralof Flame Tongue.