Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 356: Lunch Break
For Tauro and the other members of Black-Gold Wings, reinforced by three veteran dragonfolk operatives, the Cockatrice-subjugation request outside Bomen’s territorial capital was simple.
Malak, Zumei, and Reeva performed so impressively that Tauro, Ragune, and Ankh had almost nothing to do.
Cockatrices were normally troublesome opponents. They could fly for short periods, moved with surprising agility, and possessed several attacks that inflicted abnormal conditions. The three dragonfolk nevertheless located the monsters with ease, wrung their necks as casually as catching chickens in a coop, and promptly began dismantling them. They removed the snake portions of the tails, collected the venom, and cut off the combs required as proof of subjugation.
Tauro also made sure to remove the magic stones.
“Lord Tauro, do you truly intend to take the remaining parts instead of discarding them?”
Malak asked while draining the blood from one of the Cockatrices.
“Yes. The meat looks delicious, so I’d like to keep it for future meals.”
If Tauro’s guess was correct, Cockatrice meat would taste much like chicken.
Moreover, it came from a C-rank subjugation target and was rarely available as food.
Tauro began butchering one carcass to inspect the meat.
“Are you going to cook it here?” Reeva asked in surprise.
“I’d like to try a little as a test. If it tastes as good as I expect, it should be excellent. The texture is quite firm… Yes, let’s grill it on skewers.”
Tauro cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, took skewers from [Magic Storage], and began threading the pieces onto them.
Ankh and Ragune followed his example and helped prepare the skewers.
“I want to judge the meat itself, so we’ll season it with only salt and pepper.”
After seasoning the meat, Tauro used magic to form a simple U-shaped cooking stove from the earth.
“Well, it’s lunchtime,” Malak conceded.
He gathered fallen branches, placed them in the stove, and ignited them with fire magic.
Reeva began grilling the skewers, and Malak soon joined her.
“Everyone, listen while you work,” Tauro said as he continued preparing the meat. “The forest is safer for this conversation because we don’t know who might be listening in the city.”
He looked toward the three operatives.
“Do you still believe other people with dragonfolk blood may be involved with the Assassins’ Guild?”
“…Yes,” Malak answered on behalf of the others. “As I mentioned before, during the operation to destroy the guild’s bases in the Royal Capital, we confirmed that several members carried dragonfolk blood. We also found altered, degraded versions of secret techniques traditionally passed down among our people, modified so that humans could use them. We originally joined this fight to help you, Lord Tauro, but the honor of the dragonfolk is now at stake as well. The Assassins’ Guild must be eradicated.”
His tone carried absolute conviction.
“I understand. Then we’ll work hard not to slow you down.”
“You needn’t worry. We’ll be fighting beside you. Once the exact location of the headquarters is confirmed, the dragonfolk elite, led by veterans of the dungeon-conquest expedition, will move in.”
Zumei and Reeva nodded in agreement with Malak.
They truly intend to annihilate the guild in the most literal sense.
Knowing the dragonfolk’s strength better than almost any other human, Tauro almost felt sorry for the Assassins’ Guild.
“Even so, it’s strange that someone with dragonfolk blood became so deeply involved in the organization,” Ankh said, raising the central mystery.
“Indeed. At worst, the bloodline may go back several centuries, perhaps even to a time before the Assassins’ Guild was founded. Chief Ryuga ordered us not only to destroy the organization, but also to investigate that connection.”
Zumei gave the answer while biting into a freshly grilled skewer.
“Zumei, you weren’t supposed to reveal that yet,” Reeva admonished him.
“…That’s why we ask you to leave the extermination of the Assassins’ Guild primarily to us dragonfolk,” Malak said, turning to Tauro.
“Understood. Now, since Zumei has already started eating, let’s all taste it.”
Tauro picked up the grilled skewers and handed them around.
While everyone enjoyed the unexpectedly delicious Cockatrice meat, Reeva suddenly went still.
“…It appears that your former father has entered the lord’s mansion, Lord Tauro. That makes the lord complicit as well.”
Without realizing it, Salk had been leading Malak and the others to one Assassins’ Guild facility after another for some time.
As the guild placed greater trust in him, he visited more important locations. Reeva could identify each one by following the mark she had placed on him.
That was how the dragonfolk had located and destroyed the guild’s bases in the Royal Capital. Neither the enemy nor Salk himself had discovered that he was being used as an unwitting guide.
Salk’s standing within the organization had risen further because his [Escape] skill allowed him to flee the Royal Capital carrying confidential documents entrusted to him during the destruction of the local bases.
Tauro and the others didn’t yet know those details when Reeva detected his visit to the lord’s mansion.
“If that’s confirmed, we’ll return to Caxart this evening, where the others are waiting, and discuss our next move.”
Tauro spoke as he finished the last skewer.