Chapter 4
Chapter 4: VS Grass Cow
Among all the dungeons that exist in this other world, the Demeter Grand Dungeon is one that has been thoroughly abandoned.
It may be called a Grand Dungeon, but in practice, it's treated as a dud.
As mentioned before—the general indifference toward food culture.
The fact that, upon reaching Transcendence, one is essentially freed from the physical constraints of eating.
The fact that those people make up the ruling class, and so on, but….
"First of all, the location is bad."
"Yes. It's in the middle of nowhere."
And so, Demeter Academy had obtained the exclusive rights to this dungeon. To be more precise, it was closer to the case that no competitors had shown up….
"It'd make far more money to run a convenience store in some corner of a large dungeon's academy instead."
"I find myself agreeing with that…. Our academy is, well…. quite poor."
In truth, the fact that even Yuna—who, as student council president, could at best serve as a professor's errand-runner and would normally have no easy way of knowing the academy's management policies or current situation—was aware of this, showed just how transparently Demeter Academy was falling apart.
I bought a week-long exploration pass for the Demeter Dungeon from the academy's reception desk, at a price that wasn't all that expensive—two passes, one for each of us. This was also one of the academy's important sources of income, and the staff member gave me a look that practically said, 'Are you serious?' when they saw me buying it.
With that, I handed Yuna one of the entry passes, and we stepped into the dungeon side by side.
"Have you studied the concept of dungeons?"
"Yes. Monsters appear. Beyond that…."
The Demeter Grand Dungeon is a terrain-shifting dungeon.
That is to say—the internal environment of the dungeon changes with each floor, or within certain designated areas.
The deeper you go, the stronger the monsters become. And when a monster is defeated, its corpse disappears before long, dropping items in its place.
Monster corpses disappear after 72 hours.
It's reality—yet a game system operates openly within it, and anyone can enjoy a fragment of that system. A strange world.
Then again, the strangest thing of all was me—someone dragged in from what was originally a game. So I'd decided to just accept it.
"What's something you need to keep in mind when forming a party?"
"The pace of progress must match the party's combat strength. For the strong, item drop rates decrease on the lower floors of the dungeon."
"Correct. For example, even if a grand mage wanted to sweep the 1st floor and monopolize the market, items would barely drop for that grand mage. It's a widely known fact."
If that weren't the case, a single Transcendent could have swept even the lower floors of the Demeter Dungeon alone and kept up a steady supply of ingredients.
"What else?"
"A party is essential. Inside a dungeon, you never know what kind of accident might occur—going in alone is the same as hunting with your life on the line."
"Good. A textbook-clean answer."
"Thank you. I am also the top-ranked student council president, after all!"
It's a vague thing to boast about, but this one has real talent.
Come to think of it—even when I had threatened her, she had pushed the sword in but never let go of it.
A fine Vanguard.
"That's enough explanation for now. Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
"I've been told that in a party, it's important to trust and rely on each other and to follow the chain of command! I'm the one taking orders now. Do you have any dungeon experience, Manager Yujin?"
"I do. And I've gone quite far down, too."
"H-how many floors?"
“I probably went all the way to the frontlines of human progress.”
And in game terms, I saw the ending.
"Then I'll follow your instructions, Manager Yujin! What should I call you?"
"Isn't Manager fine?"
"No! That doesn't feel like a party. I'm the soldier. You're the commander!"
But asking her to call me Commander felt a bit much too.
"Call me whatever feels natural."
"So I gave it some thought. You handle a sword more skillfully than I do, and you've come to an academy that's clearly not going to turn a profit, all on your own, for the sake of humanity…. I'll call you Master!"
"I'm not a professor, though."
"Professors get called Professor. Master is different."
‘Is that so?’
Well, I told her to do as she pleased, so I had no intention of reversing it.
"Understood. Let's go. Yuna."
"Yes. Master!"
We set off side by side into Floor 1 of the Demeter Grand Dungeon.
For the sake of more delicious cooking.
For the sake of humanity.
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The Demeter Grand Dungeon.
Floor 1 of the dungeon we had entered was an open grassland field.
The monsters were in plain sight—but that also meant our position was equally exposed.
"Tricky. It'll be hard to make a hiding spot."
"Yes. It will…."
The system was that of a game, but this dungeon was absolutely not a game. Getting hit hurt. Getting hit more would kill you. There was only one life, and resurrection magic did not exist.
I pulled up some grass from the ground, smelled it, then briefly chewed some dirt and spat it out.
"I—I think eating dirt isn't good for your health."
What are you even saying, Yuna….
"Learn this. It's the most basic detection technique."
"Eating dirt, you mean?"
"The soil of a grassland field carries a single attribute across the entire terrain. When you encounter a field like this, if the grass smells sour, or if chewing the dirt inflicts a poisoned status, you know the entire field carries a poison effect."
"I—I see. Should I eat some dirt too?"
"There's no need. I already tasted it. This place is just a plain grassland. Both the soil and the grass here are fresh—no poison."
Up until moments ago, Yuna had been looking at me with pity—but after hearing my words, her eyes lit up.
"And the monsters are…. 'Grass Cows,' it seems. Not a bad field. Optimal for the 1st floor, even. What do you see?"
"Cows!"
"Correct. They're enormous cows with a grass attribute. Fight one."
"Yes!"
Drawing her longsword from her hip, Yuna charged straight at the Grass Cow.
Three seconds into the encounter.
Yuna was airborne.
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"I lost miserably…."
"So you did."
Yuna sat down where she'd fallen, dropped her sword, and hung her head low.
"You really did lose miserably."
She had charged at the Grass Cow with her sword drawn, and a single headbutt had sent her flying.
"I am the Righteous Student Council President, and I carry a great mission."
"What mission is that?"
"The mission to save all of humanity…."
What a sense of purpose….
"And yet I was completely knocked away in one hit by a 1st floor monster…."
"The Grass Cow's greatest weapon is that sheer bulk. If you charge headfirst into something like that, your small frame simply can't hold its ground. Haven't you learned Physical Enhancement?"
"My training is still lacking…."
Then of course you couldn't break through.
The green cow—roughly 2.5 meters tall—boasted muscle all over its body, enough to send a person flying with a single horn strike. Yuna stood just over 160 centimeters, which made it easy to see just how massive the thing was.
"But there is a way to win."
"Really? How can I win? Master!"
"The way to deal with four-legged beasts is always the flank. They have no way of blocking a side attack."
"Ah-ha!"
With that, Yuna drove toward the Grass Cow's side and thrust her sword in. Stab! A sound rang out as the blade sank into its flank.
And then….
【Mooooooooooo!】
The sword, unable to pass all the way through the Grass Cow's flank, was lodged in halfway—and the beast began to thrash wildly. Then it turned its face toward her, and Yuna sailed through the air once more.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaa! I'm flyiiiiing! Squee."
She crashed face-first into the ground immediately after and went unconscious.
"Pfft."
That final squee must have been Yuna's dying breath…. The fact that she'd held onto her sword the whole time before flying was admirable—but she was so utterly hopeless that a laugh escaped me.
A swordsmanship student wasn't going to get seriously hurt just from flying through the air a bit.
【Mooooo!】
The Grass Cow snorted repeatedly and glared in my direction. Clearly furious.
At this rate, the unconscious Yuna would be trampled to death by the Grass Cow.
An unprecedented situation.
The mage had become the one protecting the Tank.
【Moo…?】
"How dare you try to trample her."
【Mo…o…o….】
Using magic seemed like overkill, so I simply let out my killing intent—and the Grass Cow dropped to its knees right where it stood.
No matter how monstrous a cow it was, it was still nothing more than a 1st floor monster.
I walked slowly toward it and pressed a finger to the center of its forehead.
Immediately after—the massive creature, unable to do a single thing, trembled where it stood in terror, then collapsed and even wet itself out of fear.
Naturally, I felt no sympathy for the monster. Just as we gained resources by defeating them, they too preyed on humans to grow stronger.
"Hmm."
I could simply finish it off right here, but….
There was no meaning in me killing it. The level gap was too wide—no items would drop.
So the hunt had to be Yuna's to complete.
I pulled out the sword that was lodged in the beast's flank, then gave it a look.
【Mooooo…!!】
The Grass Cow turned and fled, and once it was no longer visible. I crouched down right there and looked down at the unconscious Yuna.
"Good grief…."
I let out a sigh before I even realized it, looking at Yuna lying there.
The swordswoman who was supposed to serve as my party's vanguard in the days ahead, and she was in this sorry state….
"We have a long road ahead. A very long road."
For now. Let me prepare a few things before the kid wakes up.
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Yuna woke up about an hour later.
"M-Master…?"
Yuna propped herself upright and looked around, then quickly made a face like she was about to cry.
"I—the Grass Cow hit me and I went flying and…."
"You crashed headfirst into the ground and passed out."
"A-aaah…. How shameful. I am—I am the mightiest student council president, and yet…."
‘Who on earth told you that….’
Yuna, apparently mortified, covered her face with both hands and stamped her feet.
"To put it bluntly—your penetrating power was lacking. What's a sword that small going to do, stabbing at its flank? How much could that really hurt it?"
"Oh, right. My sword…. Where is my sword? It's all I have to my name…!"
"I recovered it."
"Sob…. Thank you, Master! So what about the beast? I want a rematch!"
"It fled."
"Oh…!"
Yuna looked at her own hands, then at the sword lying beside her.
And then she sat there, eyes brimming with tears.
"I'm sorry. I was no help. I'm far too lacking. Master…."
At the sudden onset of her self-criticism, I found myself scratching the back of my head.
In my past life and in this one both—it seemed I was never very good at handling the sound of a young person crying.
"Stop crying. If you're weak, you grow stronger. If you were defeated, you challenge again. Isn't that better than crying?"
"Sob…. Yes. Yes!"
Even as she said that, she kept working her lips and hugged her knees to her chest, still on the verge of tears.
It couldn't be helped.
When it comes to calming a crying kid, food is the best remedy.
"Wait a moment. I'll make you something to eat."
"Hm? But the hunt failed? If the hunt fails, there's nothing to eat today, is there?"
‘Are we living like cavemen?’
"Never mind that—look here."
I showed Yuna a bowl filled with grass I'd rinsed clean, and her eyes went wide.
"G-grass? Does it taste good? Is it—by any chance grass that tastes like meat?"
"If you eat it as-is, the flavor is passable. Nothing special. Well—just watch."
I pulled some firewood from my pack, lit a fire, and placed a pan over it. I coated it with oil and mixed the bowl of grass with a flour-and-water batter. As I poured the batter onto the heated, oil-slicked pan, it let out a tsssssss and a pancake began to cook.
This was my first dish in the Demeter Dungeon.
Its name—Weed Pancake.
"Wait a moment."
"Y-yes, hehe!"
Her mouth was already watering enough to affect her speech.
While the Weed Pancake cooked, I began silently chanting a spell inside my head.
The point of contact with the world—the interior of my own body. I directed my magical energy strictly inward, to the inside of the flesh.
The spells I would use: 【Strength Enhancement】, 【Endurance Enhancement】, 【Output Enhancement】, 【Explosive Movement】—layered one by one, then… 【Target Spell Imprint】 activated.
The spell traveled through the frying pan and into the pancake.
With that, the 【Magically Imbued Weed Pancake】 was complete.
If rendered in descriptive text, it would probably read something like:
【Magically Imbued Weed Pancake: Applies Strength Enhancement, Endurance Enhancement, Output Enhancement, and Explosive Movement buffs to the consumer.】
I slid the crisply fried pancake onto a plate, cut it with scissors, and held it out to her with a fork.
"This is…. Is this a pie? I've never seen a pie like this."
"Let's call it a Grass Pie. Eat."
"I—I'll eat well."
She picked up the pancake and took a big bite—and her eyes immediately lit up.
"It-it's hot! Even so, it's incredibly delicious!"
"What makes it good?"
"W-well, I thought it would be bland since it's just weeds, but with every chew, this ripened-grass fragrance brings out the texture, and it's several times better than a plain flour pie! There's a rich, oily taste that makes you want to keep chewing! Especially the edges—they're so crispy that I could eat just the edges forever!"
"Is that so?"
"As expected of you, Master! Please make one more!"
"Will one more be enough?"
"No, actually two…. No, a bit more would be nice, I think."
"Five?"
"That many?! U-um…. If Master is the one making them…. I…. Yes. I will take full responsibility and finish every last one…. I am the Student Council President of Clean Plates."
Faced with such lavish praise, I tore off a piece of the pancake and tasted it myself—and my expression soured.
Of course, with no dipping sauce and only salt seasoning on the pancake itself, and using plain flour rather than pancake mix, the flavor fell well short. It was nothing more than the overwhelming cheat code of frying carbohydrates in oil that made it edible enough to put in your mouth, chew, and swallow.
6 out of 10. Garbage.
Contrary to my assessment, Yuna was eating away with a smile.
After she finished, I asked her:
"Now that you've eaten—don't you feel some kind of change in your body? Like overflowing strength, or an omnipotent feeling that you could do anything?"
"Hm…? W-wait, is this dangerous grass…? Grass I shouldn't have eaten…? Grass that ruins your life…?"
"Anyway—swing your sword."
"Y-yes!"
Following my instruction, she picked up her sword and swung it hard from above—straight down.
Fwoooooong……!!
A sword wind that hadn't so much as flickered before now surged to life, slicing through the air and cutting down the weeds.
"Hii-ik…. Did I really get stronger from life-ruining grass…? Have I—as student council president—without even knowing it, gone down a path I shouldn't have…. A path of descent into darkness…?"
"I already said it's not that."
While Yuna was busy frightening herself over what she'd just done, I had prepared a string of 'lines' in advance.
This was the start of the 'script.'
The script to convince Yuna without her catching on that I was a mage.
"This is the power that let me go deep into the dungeon. A cooking buff."
"A cooking b-buff…? Isn't a buff exclusively a mage's skill?"
"In my case, I can only imbue it into cooking."
"Master—are you a mage?"
"No. You're aware that special Jobs exist in this world, aren't you?"
"Oh…. Yes. I know! Besides the ordinary Jobs like Swordsman, Warrior, Archer—I've learned that there are special Jobs like Relic Appraiser and Beast Tamer."
"Correct. And my Job is 【Culinary Researcher】—I can imbue cooking with buffs. By eating them, beneficial effects are gained. What's been imbued in you right now is Strength Enhancement, Endurance Enhancement, and other physical enhancement types."
"Ah! I see. So Master is someone who casts magic through cooking!"
At those words, I momentarily forgot what I was about to say.
Hadn't she perfectly summarized the path I intended to walk?
Without even meaning to, I let out a quiet laugh.
"That's right. I pursue cooking to its limit. I will surpass magic."
"That's incredible!"
Yuna's eyes shone as she nodded.
It seemed I'd managed to fool her well enough.
With this—I had succeeded in hiding both my reason for settling in Demeter and my true identity.
I felt a little sorry for Yuna, but I couldn't afford to let my identity be exposed.
"Well then. Yuna Linforce. I think you know what you need to do now?"
Yuna gripped her sword and nodded.
"Yes. I think I do! Eat Master's cooking, defeat monsters, and obtain more ingredients!"
"Excellent. Now—you're stronger. Charge."
"Yes! The Enhanced Student Council President—sortieing!"
That day.
Yuna slew three Grass Cows.
It was a result that even surprised me.