The Expelled Hero's Gourmet Second Act: This Wasn't Supposed to Happen - The Bone Monster and the Sky Pantry

The tremor's aftershock lingered in the soles of his feet even after a full night had passed. 　Kazarina Shion had been thinking about that vibration ever since he'd lit the kitchen fires of the Kamado-bi Pavilion before dawn. A cup had swayed. A pot had rocked slowly, then settled back. And beyond the northern ridge, that haze-like thing he'd seen. Last night, he'd written it down in his notepad. Ground tremor, northern direction, timing coincides with rise in Vita density——those three lines hung in the kitchen air this morning. 　While breaking down a trout pulled from the Silg River into three fillets, Shion moved his knife—the Tsuruba blade—with careful precision, checking the line of the edge. Skin stripped. Bones removed. The flesh had good tension. The water temperature must have been low this morning; it was especially firm. Even with all those concerns from last night, the condition of the trout still mattered to him——and though Shion found that a bit odd about himself, he treasured that instinct. 　The door was knocked on the moment he brought his blade to the third trout. 　Thud, thud, thud-thud-thud!!! "Yes, just a moment. But we're not open yet, so——" 　He opened the door while still holding the Tsuruba blade. 　The next instant, something flew inside. CRASH!!!! 　A blood and mud-covered person collapsed into Shion's arms. He caught them reflexively. But the timing was bad——Shion still held the Tsuruba in his right hand. From an outside perspective, it looked like Shion was stabbing the falling boy with a knife. "Aaahhhhh!!!!" 　An old farmer walking through the alley screamed. His voice echoed through the street. Faces appeared in windows. Even the cat that had been dozing on the roof of the opposite storage shed fled. "No——this is for cooking! It's a cooking knife! It's a misunderstanding!!" 　Shion shouted, but three neighbors from nearby houses were each peering out their windows to observe the situation. A blood-covered boy. A knife. Hopeless. The scene was completely beyond any excuse. 　The boy forced out words in a trembling voice. "……The mine……there's a huge monster……" 　Shion froze. 　The boy sank to his knees on the floor, then slowly began to tip over. Shion set the Tsuruba down on the kitchen counter and caught the boy with both hands. The smell of blood. The smell of mud. But more important than that was how unnaturally the boy's body was shaking. 　The cook's expression vanished from Shion's face. 　For just a moment, his eyes became something entirely different. A gaze that measured danger, that measured distance, a cold, focused light. It was gone the next instant, but——as Shion carried the boy to a kitchen chair, his mind was already moving. --- 　The boy's name was Tuuk Rairyu. 　A copper-rank adventurer newly registered with the Iron Ring Alliance——the continental adventurer management organization that held 180,000 adventurers——sixteen years old. His silver hair, naturally short and unruly, was matted with mud. His face, which usually tilted left when he smiled, was now pale and rigid. Only the star-shaped mole on his left cheek stood out with strange clarity. 　Shion seated Tuuk in a chair and returned to the kitchen without a word. 　Five minutes later. 　A steaming bowl of trout soup was placed before Tuuk. "……Huh?" "First, let's warm your body, then we can talk. There's seconds too." 　Tuuk took the soup with trembling hands. He took a sip. 　His eyes widened. 　The trembling in his hands——stopped. "What is this, it's so good……" 　The murmur was almost like talking to himself. But you could tell he was surprised. The hands that had been shaking so badly just moments ago now held the bowl of soup quietly. Shion confirmed this from the kitchen entrance and nodded slightly. 　Tuuk drained the soup. Then, after a brief pause, he looked up at Shion. "……Um" "Yes?" "Could I have seconds, please?" 　While Shion brought the second bowl, Tuuk thought to himself. （Wait, wait, wait. I just came back from a seriously bad situation, right? All my comrades got taken down, I barely escaped with my life, so why am I asking for seconds now? Why. Why am I asking so normally?）　The second bowl arrived. He drank it. His hands didn't shake again. 　His self-commentary couldn't keep up. 　After draining the second bowl, his body finally settled. Tuuk took a deep breath and began to speak. What happened in the mine. What kind of monster it was. What became of his comrades. 　Shion listened with his elbow on the counter, his expression serious. Partway through, he took out his notepad. 　Tuuk felt a little relieved——but then he saw Shion's hand stop and leaned in to look. 　The first line of the notes read like this: 　"Trout soup——effective even in tension/panic states. Does broth temperature affect heart rate stabilization? Next time, adjust broth concentration and conduct comparative experiment——" "Are you writing that down right now!?" "It's important knowledge." 　He said it with a serious face. Not joking in the slightest. "What exactly are you……" --- 　Organizing Tuuk's testimony, it came down to this: 　25 kilometers northeast of Valm, in the middle of the Orvas Mountain Range——the ruins of the Iglis Cavern Research Institute, an ancient underground facility where bioweapon research had been conducted about 500 years ago——something had emerged from the third layer. A four-legged beast over ten meters long. Bone and muscle fiber exposed, no skin. There were things like eyes, but not eyeballs. Massive, fast——and most of all, every adventurer who got close dried up. "They didn't even touch it. We were like ten meters away, and suddenly the copper-rank senior with us just went limp……like something was being sucked out of their body……" 　Shion's pen stopped. 　Absorption range. Life Vita absorption across tens of meters. That matched the characteristics of "Necross"——the hunger demon beast that had supposedly been cultivated at the Iglis Cavern Research Institute, an entity that absorbed life Vita from all living things and grew massive. "……The Iglis Cavern Research Institute. The seal……has broken." 　His voice was low. Tuuk sensed the shift and straightened his posture slightly. "Will you go subjugate it!?" 　He leaned forward eagerly. A sixteen-year-old's voice, all momentum. 　Shion examined Tuuk's arm. There were wounds. Hidden under the mud, deep claw marks were visible beneath his sleeve. "I won't let you go in your current state." 　His voice was gentle but unyielding. "And——I'm a cook right now, so" 　He adjusted his apron and turned back toward the kitchen. "Wait a second! We're talking about a monster! You were listening!?" "I was listening." "Then why are you going back to the kitchen!!" "Because I need to serve lunch or the customers will be troubled." 　He said it with complete seriousness. Not joking in the slightest. Tuuk's mouth hung open for a while. （What in the world is this person……） --- 　It was mid-afternoon when Shion headed to the food storage after finishing the lunch service. 　He stood before the shelves. 　The moment he picked up a tomato, he knew. 　It lacked the firmness it had yesterday. The skin was slightly soft. Not ripe——it felt withered, as if the moisture inside had been drained. Shion cut the tomato with the Tsuruba blade. He looked at the cross-section. 　The glow of life Vita——it was gone. 　Valm-grown vegetables retained abundant Vita——life essence——accumulated in the soil, so much so that the cut surface had a faint luminescence, the density was so high. That was the foundation of the Kamado-bi Pavilion's cooking. The reason Reset had cried after one bite, the reason Poura spoke proudly of the price——it all connected here. 　That glow was gone. 　He went to check the bucket with the trout. The three caught just this morning had clouded eyes. There was no smell of decay. Just——the eyes were dead. The eyes of something drained of Vita. "The absorption range……has reached here." 　His voice trembled slightly. 　Necross was 25 kilometers in a straight line from the Iglis Cavern Research Institute ruins to Valm. But if the absorption range was expanding——it had already reached here from within the mountains. 　The door was knocked on. Knock-knock-knock!! "Shion! This is bad!!" 　Poura Meze burst in. The proprietor of the miscellaneous and food goods shop "Poura's Shelf," Shion's primary food supplier——a plump, cheerful woman in her fifties, but her face today was pale with shock. "The turnips in the terraced fields have withered overnight! All the farmers are in an uproar! This isn't normal!!" 　Shion closed the food storage door and looked at Poura's face. --- 　In the evening, Bruct Reset came to the pavilion a little later than her usual helping time. 　Her silver hair reaching her waist swayed. Gold and purple heterochromatic eyes read the state of the pavilion in an instant. Seeing Tuuk sitting in a chair with bandages being wrapped around his arm, Poura with her face flushed speaking about something, and Shion silently spreading papers on the table, Reset immediately understood. The air in the pavilion was thick with something serious. 　Four people gathered around the table. 　Shion summarized the situation. Necross——the hunger demon beast sealed at the Iglis Cavern Research Institute——had awakened. The absorption range currently confirmed extended to the northern edge of Valm. The turnips in the terraced fields, the tomatoes in the food storage, the trout in the Silg River——all had their Vita drained. "The northern fields are completely gone." 　Her voice was quiet. But she was shaken. Her hand gripped the edge of the paper. "The southern farms too……probably by tomorrow." 　Shion began checking the remaining food. He went to the shelves, picking up items one by one, confirming the remaining Vita in each. Poura called out, "What about that one?" "How about that shelf?" They spoke in low voices. 　Reset stood beside Shion. 　The two stood side by side looking at the same shelf. "There are four turnips." "The dried fish on this shelf……these should still be fine." 　They confirmed things in quiet voices. The conversation was completely practical. But the distance between them was close. Close enough their shoulders might touch, looking at the same shelf. 　Tuuk, sitting next to Poura at the table, grinned. Oh, these two are close—— Smack!! "Ow!!" 　Poura hit the back of his head. "This isn't the time for that." "I know……I know that, but……" 　Rubbing his struck head, Tuuk's eyes drifted back toward the shelves. 　Reset spoke to Shion. "Tomorrow, I'll check everything I can reach. I'll investigate how far the damage goes." "That's dangerous." 　Shion tried to stop her. But Reset didn't shake her head. "This is my town." 　Her voice was quiet. Not bravado, not mustering courage. Just——that's how it is——a voice with backbone. 　Shion received those words. Received them, and couldn't say anything. A moment where he faced Reset's will head-on. --- 　Everyone had left. 　Shion remained alone in the Kamado-bi Pavilion late into the night. 　Standing in the food storage, looking at the shelves. 　Less than half of what had been there this morning. Tomatoes completely gone. River fish completely gone. Five turnips, three carrots, some dried fish. There was dashi made from small dried fish——but cooking with Vita-drained ingredients wouldn't make the Kamado-bi Pavilion's food. It wouldn't be the food that made Reset cry. 　Shion drew the Tsuruba blade. 　He touched one of the remaining carrots lightly. The sense of Vita transmitted through the blade's tip was almost nonexistent. "I won't be able to cook." 　Speaking it aloud, he felt the weight of those words. 　He had never once considered this possibility. Not the day he'd renovated the abandoned inn, not the days he'd been covered in water and soot and mud three times over, not the night the

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Episode 4

Name: The Expelled Hero's Gourmet Second Act: This Wasn't Supposed to Happen
Author: Novelia

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