Chapter 58: Adverse Effects and Egg Sandwiches
“Haah… haah… huff… C-Could you two please slow down…?!”
“Oniisan, your legs are way weaker than I thought.”
“Eight, I’m rather surprised by how little stamina you have.”
“Y-You’re seriously… overestimating… the endurance… of modern people…!”
We were trekking through the forest.
The terrain was far rougher than it looked from the outside.
Large boulders littered the ground, tangled tree roots protruded from the earth like hidden traps, and loose patches of dirt made every step uncertain. If you weren’t paying constant attention to your footing, one careless mistake was all it would take to twist an ankle—or worse.
Simply walking carefully through the forest was proving far more exhausting than I’d expected.
Meanwhile…
Raphiel and Eve looked completely unfazed.
Raphiel had spent years traveling the world on her pilgrimage.
As for Eve…
Well.
She was the Demon King.
Compared to someone like me—a perfectly ordinary modern guy who had spent most of his life indoors unless absolutely necessary—the difference in physical endurance was painfully obvious.
“…How’s it,” I groaned between breaths, “that I lose to two people who spend their days eating, sleeping, watching anime, and playing games… when I do radio calisthenics every single morning?”
“Eight,” Raphiel replied matter-of-factly, “you place far too much faith in radio calisthenics.”
“I saw something on TV once,” Eve added. “They’re good for improving blood circulation and relieving stiff shoulders, but they don’t actually build stamina.”
I couldn’t even argue with that.
We continued deeper into the woods.
“Hm?”
A familiar voice called out from ahead.
“Oh! Boss, is that you?!”
“Huh?”
I looked up.
“Rorondo?”
A small group of heavily armed adventurers emerged between the trees after noticing us.
Among them stood one particularly broad-shouldered man.
His name was Rorondo.
He was one of Tsurugi Hachi’s regulars, faithfully showing up every morning and every evening without fail.
“Boss, what’re you doing all the way out here?” he asked, looking genuinely surprised. “The monsters around these parts are nasty. It’s dangerous.”
“W-Well… I got invited.” I scratched my cheek awkwardly. “What about you, Rorondo? Why are you this deep in the forest?”
“Hah! Haven’t you heard?” His eyes sparkled with excitement. “Word is a dragon’s been spotted around here. Every adventurer dreams of becoming a dragonslayer! Pull that off and the special requests start pouring in. Fame! Fortune! Mountains of gold!”
“I see…”
Come to think of it…
I vaguely remembered hearing customers at the restaurant say that slaying a dragon was the ultimate dream of every adventurer.
“Oh, right, Boss…”
Rorondo’s gaze shifted past me.
“…The lady behind you wouldn’t happen to be…”
“Ah, yes.”
I nodded.
“This is Saintess Raphiel.”
“I’m Raphiel.”
The instant Rorondo and his companions recognized her…
They completely surrounded Raphiel.
“So the rumors were true! You really are living in Papel Village!”
“Your face is so tiny!”
“And your eyelashes are so long!”
“P-Please! Could I shake your hand?!”
Normally, Raphiel was remarkably good at avoiding attention.
Even when adventurers came to Papel Village, very few ever realized she was there.
But this time…
We were in the middle of the forest.
There was nowhere to slip away unnoticed.
Rather than trying to escape, Raphiel quietly accepted each request, calmly shaking every offered hand one after another.
Watching her like this…
“Saintie really does act like a proper saint when she has to…”
Eve muttered under her breath.
She wasn’t wrong.
Gone was the lazy Raphiel who spent her days lounging around the house.
Standing before the adventurers now was someone composed, dignified, and quietly elegant.
Even with her usual expressionless face…
She undeniably looked every bit the Saint.
“Hahaha! So even the Saintess is here to slay the dragon!”
“Yes.”
Raphiel gave a simple nod.
“That would be correct.”
“Then I guess it’s a race! First one to kill it wins!”
“…A race?” Raphiel tilted her head. “Wouldn’t it be safer if we worked together?”
Rorondo laughed and waved the suggestion away.
“Can’t do that.”
He grinned confidently.
“If I kill a dragon with the Saintess standing beside me, everyone’ll just laugh and say I only pulled it off because she was there.”
With that, he gathered his party and continued marching deeper into the forest.
We watched until the dense trees swallowed them from sight.
Only after they had completely disappeared did Raphiel turn back toward us.
“We can’t afford to lose either. Let us quickly locate this dragon and eliminate it.”
“Wow.”
Eve blinked.
“You’re really motivated today, Saintie.”
“…Eve.”
Raphiel’s voice remained calm.
“Do you believe those adventurers can truly slay a dragon?”
“No.”
Eve answered without the slightest hesitation.
“They’re too weak.”
She wasn’t mocking them.
She simply stated what she believed to be an obvious fact.
Still…
Coming from Eve, everyone was weak.
Those adventurers were actually among the strongest members of the Adventurers’ Guild.
Their leader, Rorondo, was even an A-Rank adventurer on the same level as Kirara.
Surely…
Surely it wasn’t impossible.
Silently cheering them on in my heart—
Grrr…
A small rumble interrupted my thoughts.
Eve looked down at her stomach.
“Oniisan.”
She smiled sheepishly.
“I’m getting hungry.”
“In that case…”
I shrugged off the backpack I’d been carrying.
“Let’s have lunch. I packed us bentos.”
“Yaaay!”
I opened the lunchbox.
Inside was an assortment of sandwiches.
“Ooh!! Sandwiches!” Eve’s eyes lit up instantly. “And there are all kinds!”
“The rich egg sandwich is mine.”
Raphiel moved first with surprising speed.
“H-Hey! That’s cheating! I wanted the egg sandwich too!”
“There are enough for everyone,” I said with a laugh. “Please don’t fight.”
The first sandwich Raphiel reached for was the rich egg salad sandwich.
The recipe itself was simple.
Hard-boiled eggs.
Separate the whites and yolks.
Roughly chop the whites while mashing the yolks into a smooth paste.
Mix them together with mayonnaise, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Then simply spread butter onto slices of bread before filling them with the egg mixture.
“Mm.”
Raphiel’s expression softened ever so slightly.
“The rich egg filling is wonderfully delicious.”
“Hmm…”
Eve took another bite before narrowing her eyes at me.
“It’s good.”
She looked suspiciously thoughtful.
“…But did you really make this, Oniisan? The seasoning doesn’t feel like your style.”
“…You’re sharp.”
I couldn’t help smiling.
“Actually, Luka, Nor, and Rio made all of these.”
“Oh?”
Eve blinked.
“They did?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
“The adventurers kept making the same request.”
Every morning, adventurers ate breakfast at Tsurugi Hachi before heading into the forest.
Without exception…
They wouldn’t return until nightfall.
“They kept telling me it was torture having to wait until dinner before they could eat something delicious again.”
“A side effect of Eight’s cooking,” Raphiel observed. “Once you’ve tasted food of that quality, ordinary preserved rations like dried meat and black bread simply aren’t satisfying anymore.”
“So…”
I smiled.
“We decided to start providing packed lunches.”
The problem was…
Tifana, Sabine, and I were already overwhelmed preparing food for the restaurant every morning.
That’s when our usual trio—Luka and the others—stepped forward.
In exchange for snacks and toys from my old world, they’d offered to wake up early every morning and make sandwiches for us.
Honestly…
For kids that young, they had remarkably good business instincts.
“These are actually our test batch.”
“I see.”
Raphiel nodded thoughtfully.
“However… wouldn’t food like this spoil rather quickly?”
“…That’s exactly the problem.”
I sighed.
“Especially during the hotter seasons.”
“Hm.”
Raphiel considered it for a moment.
“Then how about I cast the Miracle of Preservation upon the lunchboxes? It only lasts about three days, but it should greatly extend their freshness.”
“…There’s a miracle that can do that?!“
My voice rose in genuine astonishment.
Just then—
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
The earth itself seemed to tremble beneath the overwhelming roar.
“W-Whoa!? W-What was that?!”
“…A dragon’s roar.”
Raphiel calmly stood.
“It’s approaching us.”
The deafening bellow still echoed through the forest when the bushes ahead suddenly exploded apart.
Rorondo burst out from the undergrowth, carrying one of his badly wounded companions across his shoulders.
The instant he spotted us—
His face turned deathly pale.
“B-Boss?!”
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Run!! The dragon’s chasing us!!”
“I shall deal with it.”
Raphiel stepped forward.
“Eve, stay back.”
“…Huh?”
Eve frowned.
“No thanks.”
“N-No!!”
Rorondo’s voice cracked with panic.
“Even the Saintess can’t handle this!!”
He pointed a trembling finger toward the trees behind him.
“There wasn’t just one dragon!!”
His face was drained of all color.
“It’s a whole pack!!”
“A massive swarm!!”
And then…
Behind Rorondo—
Towering heads slowly emerged above the dense undergrowth.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Ten.
Dozens.
An entire flock of dragons stepped into view, their enormous bodies crushing trees beneath their feet as they advanced through the forest.
Yeah.
This was really bad.