Murky Darkness – Part 05
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Translator: Kell
I gathered wood to start a fire, processed the deer meat so it would last long, then prepared dinner. The sun set in the blink of an eye.
Today’s menu was steamed fish, grilled fish with salt, and, as an added bonus, crab fried in deer fat. We would also finish the part of the venison that would spoil soon.
“Big brother,” Lily said. “My mom said that a deer’s… uhm… liver? She said their liver tastes good eaten raw.”
I avoided raw meat in general, so I gave Lily the whole thing. As a cook, I don’t cook what I don’t eat.
For a while, Lily wondered how to prepare the darkish red part. She then washed it quickly, cut a thin slice, sprinkled a little salt on it, and threw it into her mouth.
She looked at me with wide eyes and a stiff tail, shaking with the excitement of the taste. I knew how she felt. I used to eat those before I got the cannibalistic urges.
She might be fine now, but it was incredibly difficult to get back into something that you once had an aversion to.
Lily then carefully cut the rest and brought them over to the people around the fire.
I was expecting a scream of horror, but surprisingly—or not really—Zero and the princess sounded ecstatic.
“Liver, huh?” Zero said. “Not bad for a pre-dinner snack.”
“Fresh internal organ is the best gourmet food that you can eat only on the day of a successful hunt,” the princess added. “You’re very thoughtful, squirt.”
“I’m not a squirt!” Lily squeaked.
Ignoring her protest, the princess picked up some more and ate it. Zero also happily devoured the snack. The priest, on the other hand, turned pale and moved away from the plate.
So he doesn’t like organs. Disregarding his apparent aversion, Lily brought the plate closer to the priest.
“It’s delicious, Father.”
The priest let out a shriek. “Uh, I don’t—”
Before he could finish, Zero spoke. “Liver thickens the blood, priest. Eat some. You need it.”
“Surely a follower of God can’t be picky like a child,” the princess added.
A bead of sweat trickled down the priest’s cheek. Deciding that rejecting the deer liver would be a disgrace to the Dea Ignis name, he cautiously tossed the liver into his mouth and swallowed it without biting.
“It’s very… delicious,” he said with a pale face.
Lily, with no ill intentions, urged him to eat some more, causing his face to grow even paler.
“That’s enough, squirt,” I said. “Beastfallen and witches might be fine, but eating raw meat is a little dangerous for normal humans.”
“Dangerous?”
“They get sick. It tastes good grilled, so cook it lightly for him.”
I didn’t mean to help him out, but I had known many people who got sick after eating raw meat. Considering that some of them died, it was not a food that I would recommend to a recovering priest.
And so the raw meat tasting session ended and we moved on to the actual dinner.
We ate steamed fish while nibbling on crab, and waited for the rest of the fish to roast while picking at the grilled deer liver. Overall, it was quite the luxurious dinner for a camp.
Feels like we’re getting too excited, but I guess we did seal Sanare away today, so that’s a cause for celebration.
I didn’t expect Raul to be anything but a herbivore. He liked fruits and vegetables, but he also ate meat and fish.
“Really?!” Lily was shocked.
“Yup,” Raul replied, smiling apologetically as he finished the grilled fish.
“I used to think that Raul only ate vegetables too.” Frowning, the princess shot Raul a disapproving look. “Then one day, he just collapsed. When a doctor checked up on him, he said it was malnutrition.”
“I didn’t expect to collapse myself.”
“So you didn’t eat any meat or fish in the forest?” I asked.
“I did. Birds, rats, and the like.”
Lily quickly hid behind me, all the hair on her body standing on end.
“No one wants to eat you,” I said.
“I don’t like Horse.”
“Man, she really hates you.”
“I suppose it’s understandable,” Raul said. “Having dinner together like this is actually strange in itself.”
Raul’s brows lowered awkwardly, but he didn’t excuse himself or try to get on anyone’s good side. After all, he did try to kill Lily and the priest.
The princess was the only thing that mattered to Raul. Everything else was just a bonus.
“I mean, the priest accompanying us is already strange as it is,” I said. “Anyway, I’m not exactly sure how to bring the princess to Plasta. I hope the kid withdraws our wanted status at least.”
“Even if she did, it would take some time for the memo to reach the whole kingdom. That said, it would be impossible to get to the royal capital without being seen.”
Zero groaned and reached for a grilled fish stuck around the campfire. Salt glistening on the crispy fish skin made it look delicious even from a distance.
“I suppose it would be easiest to go to the nearest town barracks and get caught on purpose,” Zero said.
“Don’t be absurd. If three Beastfallen, two witches, and a member of Dea Ignis showed up at the barracks, it would only look like we were there to attack.”
We would start killing each other before we even had a talk.
“Mercenary. How about contacting the lass using the Witch Letter?”
For the first time in a while, I remembered we had that. I pulled out an old piece of parchment from my luggage, and froze.
One line in messy writing.
I’m coming for you. Wait there.
“What?”
“What does it say?” Zero craned forward, peering into the letter as she chewed on the fish.
“She say’s she’s coming.”
“Coming where?”
“Here, I think.”
A horse’s neigh echoed under the evening sky. Startled, Raul raised his head and turned his attention to the woods, to the direction of the campus.
“A horse?” he said. “That’s strange. I didn’t hear any hooves until now.”
“They’re coming here real fast.” I grabbed my sword and stood up.
“The Witch’s Passage!” the princess exclaimed, a grim look on her face. “There are magical paths that lead to various parts of the kingdom. It has never been used by anyone other than Sanare, but it’s possible that someone from Cestum sensed something wrong.”
“That does not seem to be the case.” Unlike us, Zero stood up in a relaxed manner.
Wait a sec… My eyes fell to the letter.
“You mean this?” I asked.
“Most likely.”
A few seconds later, a black horse leapt out of the forest. It came to an abrupt halt right before our eyes, reared, then landed on its hooves.
There was silence for a moment.
“Th-That was terrifying!” The blonde kid clinging to the horse’s neck broke the silence, half-crying. “When I asked for the fastest horse, I didn’t think it would be this fast. I thought I’d get tossed!”
We stood there dumbfounded and speechless. When Albus finally noticed us standing close, she quickly straightened up, then slid down the huge horse.
I couldn’t mistake her for anyone else. It was the blonde-haired, golden-eyed Chief Mage of Wenias, Albus the Mooncaller Witch, the direct descendant of the great Solena.
It was clearly her, yet for a moment I thought Thirteenth had appeared. What I felt when I heard Albus’ voice and when she came down from the horse was not nostalgia or astonishment, but a sense of discomfort.
Albus, on the other hand, was waiting for some kind of response from us. Considering how badly we went our separate ways, we, as adults, should probably be the ones to talk to her first.
How did she get here? What was going on with the kingdom? How dare you put us on a wanted list?
There were so many things to say. So many, in fact, that while I was having a hard time choosing, Zero spoke.
“I see. Thirteenth is dead.”
I looked at Zero in disbelief.
Then I realized.
Albus was holding Thirteenth’s staff. She exuded an odd, intimidating air that I had never felt before from her.
“You’re kidding me.” Forcing a smile, I looked at Albus.
Albus hung her head low, her lips pursed. She gave me a pained look, then turned to Zero.
“He died protecting me,” she said clearly.
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