Emi-chan's Eating Habits, Which You Shouldn't Imitate

“Suiii, kokokoko...... Suiii, kokokoko......”

This unique cry is the courtship song of an insect called the Komo.

I hear that when the people of Teenidys hear this cry, they realize summer is coming to an end.

By the way, the Komo looks a lot like a cricket, and if you use 【Desiccation】 on them, they're easy to eat and don't have any smell.

“........................”

Inside a quiet, nameless forest where the cries of those Komo echo.

It's early morning in late summer, and though the sun hasn't shown its face yet because of a huge mountain apparently called Zahan where I used to live with Master, it's starting to get faintly bright.

I was moving my body, tracing the forms Master had taught me.

Next, I imagine Master's movements, envisioning Master standing right there, and perform solo sparring.

It is the morning of the second day since I was hired by the baron as a maid apprentice.

Fortunately, no one who looked like an assassin targeting Sara-chan and the others appeared yesterday, so everyone spent the day in peace.

......I have no complaints about the peace, but that doesn't mean I can just space out, or my skills will get rusty.

I intend to keep up with my daily routine, like the ultra-high-speed jogging in the forest (the kind I did with Master in the mountains) and the solo sparring I'm doing now.

I've received permission from the baron to do as I please until the sun comes up, and there are no issues with my work.

Now then, now then, here's the thing.

Jogging aside, I could easily do this solo sparring in the garden of the baronial house.

Going out of my way to do it in this forest...... the forest beyond the magic practice grounds, that is...... I've got a reason for doing it here.

In this forest, there's something I want to do while I train!

“Migyaaa! Migyaaa!”

“Mi, migya! ......Migyaaa!”

“Migyaaa!”

See, you hear them, right?

A weirdly shrill animal cry, not a bird's.

I heard them here and there during Sara-chan's magic practice yesterday, and it's been on my mind.

“............”

I stop my training and concentrate my awareness in the direction of the cries.

<They aren't making any warning sounds, and they haven't noticed you yet.>

I see.

Judging by the number of cries, maybe a pack of about 10?

<That's quite a few. Though they are monsters that tend to multiply easily......>

Hmm, but they aren't that strong, right?

I'll launch an attack, and if things look bad, I can just flee back to the mansion's barrier. Well, let's give it a try.

I start running silently toward the direction of the cries.

Actually, it'd be more accurate to say I'm leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk rather than running.

This forest is full of fern-like plants that reach just below my knees, and the ground is damp, making it hard to run.

After a few dozen seconds of moving.

What comes into view is a pack of dark green monsters.

They're about waist-high, and their appearance and gait are somewhat similar to chickens. Though they don't have feathers, so their skin is smooth.

And from the top of their heads down to their tails, several sharp spikes are lined up in a straight row.

Their faces look like lizards, but strangely, they have bright red eyes in three places: right, left, and forehead.

Yes, the name of these monsters is Topopolock.

That delicious meat served at dinner on my first day at the baronial house.

<By the way, since their hooked claws are long, those are Forest Topopolocks. They've evolved to be able to climb trees with those long claws.>

I don't care about that, Omake-sama!

The important thing is that they're basically omnivores, so if they reach the villages in the Salar Barony, they'll definitely ravage the fields.

Since they're aggressive and ferocious, they're monsters that will attack humans too.

And that those guys are very, very delicious meat!!

I kick off a tree trunk and plunge into the Topopolock pack without losing momentum!

As I do, I activate 【Mantis】 with both hands.

I use hand chops to slice through the necks of the Topopolocks, who can't react to the sudden attack.

The count: 4.

I've taken care of the 4 that were in my straight path.

Only after they hit the ground in a heap did the other Topopolocks notice something was wrong with the pack.

But I won't even give them time to panic!

Using 【Infinite Pebbles】, I blow the heads off the remaining 6 in the blink of an eye. And there, pest control complete!

......Wait?

“Migyaaa!!”

From behind me, the last one, which had been hiding until now, leaps at me! A surprise attack!

<This is a Topopolock Assassin! A dangerous special individual that occasionally appears in medium-sized packs or larger!>

But alas, it's nothing more than the shallow wit of a beast.

If you attack while screaming like that, it defeats the whole purpose of a surprise attack, doesn't it?

Without panicking, I turn around, grab the Topopolock Assassin's neck, and snap it right there.

Pest control complete for real this time, I guess?

<......Shallow wit of a beast or not, ordinary people can't, react that quickly, you know?>

Eh? No way.

Master could've done this before breakfast, easy, I bet.

Still, Topopolocks really do move in pretty large packs, don't they?

A monster that comes in large numbers and tastes delicious is just wonderful!

<Precisely because there are so many of them and they ravage the fields, they're the arch-enemy of farmers. Forest Topopolocks usually live in the forest, but since their range of activity is wide, they'll come out to human settlements without a second thought.>

Guuu......

Oops, my stomach is growling.

Lately I've been weirdly, or actually, really hungry.

According to Omake-sama, it's because the giant snake meat I ate the other day contained a large amount of magic power, causing my body to grow and require more nutrition than ever before.

My height hasn't increased at all, but apparently, it's a different kind of growth. I don't really get it.

Well, anyway, getting stronger is great, but being this hungry is a real pain.

I'm told this starving feeling will settle down in a little while...... but until then, I have to eat huge amounts of food.

And so.

Yeah, breakfast and dinner at the baron's house alone are nowhere near, enough. Food, I mean.

Yesterday, I was so hungry, so hungry, it was truly agonizing.

Now then, lying in front of me is 11 Topopolocks' worth of delicious meat.

I'll keep about 3 as a present for the baron, and the other 8...... will be my snack.

The forest is gradually getting brighter.

The end of my free time is near.

So I have to hurry up and stuff these snacks into my belly and head back to the mansion.

Okay then, let's dig in.

Buchi...... mogu mogu, mogu mogu...... bari bari......

To start, I sink my teeth into the meat of the freshly strangled Topopolock Assassin at my hand.

I don't have time for processing, like skinning it or draining the blood.

Of course there's no time to grill it either, so I just gulp it down raw.

......Yeah, I'm aware that I'm acting just like a beast.

But you know, I noticed when I ate the giant snake meat...... right now, whether it's raw meat or whatever, I can eat pretty much anything without any problems.

<Your digestive organs are under 【Body Strengthening】 too, after all. Run-of-the-mill bacteria and parasites can't possibly hurt you now, Emi.>

So it seems.

On top of that, I've been living on the truly awful meat of Naked Awful-tasting Mice since I was little, you know.

So I've got a tolerance for things like bad taste, harshness and bitterness.

While thinking about this and that, I've finished the first one.

Guuu......

Ah! Geez! It's not nearly enough!

I reach for a headless Forest Topopolock rolling on the ground and tear into it!

Bari bari musha musha, I crunch through the bones and swallow it whole!

But I leave the organs.

......There, finished. Still not enough. Next!

Bari bari...... Next!

Musha musha...... Next!

......Next!...... Next!...... Next!......

By the time I'd finished eating the 8 Topopolocks, the sun had fully come out, and my free time was over.

Crap, I'm totally late.

By the way, despite eating this massive amount of meat (including bones, skin, and so on), my stomach only bulged a little.

Even this bulge shrinks back after a bit of time, returning to normal as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, the digestive juices secreted by my strengthened digestive organs are quite powerful, dissolving anything in an instant.

On top of that, in my case, a considerable amount of what I eat is converted into magic power, so I don't even gain weight. Or so Omake-sama says.

What a fantasy physique!

No need for dieting, it's wonderful!

But in exchange, I'm tormented by a hunger so intense I don't even mind eating raw meat, so it's a trade-off, really.

Hurry, hurry! I can't just stand around dazing off!

Time to get back to the mansion and get to work, work~!

◇ ◇ ◇

“Emi! Emi is nowhere to be found!”

Sara had woken up to find her favorite maid apprentice missing from her room, and she was in a panic.

Emi was the benefactor who had saved Sara and the others from the thieves.

......It was she who had actually taken out the thieves.

Sara herself had been too shaken to follow what was happening, but she had heard that a few thieves had fled the scene.

Perhaps Emi had been kidnapped by the surviving thieves for the sake of revenge!

“I've looked everywhere in the mansion! ......I'm going outside to look for her!”

“You mustn't, young miss!”

Maid desperately stopped Sara, who was trying to rush out of the mansion.

The inside of the mansion was protected by a barrier, but the outside was not.

Sara was just as likely to be targeted by crooks.

For the one being guarded to put herself in danger looking for her guard was out of the question.

In fact, as long as the barrier protected the mansion, no crook could get inside.

In other words, the chance that Emi had been attacked in her sleep was next to nil.

Her room wasn't messed up, and it was obvious she had left of her own will.

But young Miss Sara was, frankly, kind of an idiot, and calming down to think things through was not her strong suit.

Emi is in danger!

Once she'd convinced herself of that, she couldn't sit still.

And so, Sara, raising a fuss about going outside to search for Emi.

Maid, trying to stop her.

Beside them, Mauve, who barely registers, dithering.

The baron, his wife and the mean-eyed butler, who had come at Sara's shouting.

First thing in the morning, the Salar baronial house was in an uproar.

“......What's all the noise?”

That said, the commotion was settled in no time.

The source of the fuss, the missing maid apprentice girl, popped back in from outside.

With her usual expressionless face, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

“Ah! Emi! You're safe......!?”

Sara got that far and then, in spite of herself, was struck speechless.

Emi wasn't wearing her maid uniform, but the rags she'd worn when they first met, and twigs and leaves were tangled in her hair, as if she'd been running through the forest.

And above all, she was covered in blood.

((((((What happened!!?))))))

That was the question felt by everyone there, except for Emi.

Without showing any sign of noticing their confusion, Emi trotted up to the baron and thrust what she held in both hands toward him.

“I hunted them. For you.”

They were the carcasses of 3 Forest Topopolocks, their heads cut off.

“Sorry. Work, late. I'll change. Soon.”

Leaving the stunned members of the baronial house behind, Emi headed straight for the well beside the mansion.

In the now-quiet entrance of the baronial house, the basha basha sound of splashing water could be heard.

Presumably, Emi was pouring water over herself to wash away the blood.

Sara was stunned.

This young miss, who usually didn't care about most things and was super-duper carefree, was rooted to the spot by the shock Emi had dealt her.

It wasn't that she was surprised by the sight of Emi covered in blood. To be precise.

Even when they first met, Emi had been covered in blood.

That girl, whose all but divine beauty last night had kept Sara, who was supposed to fall asleep in 3 seconds once in bed, from sleeping.

This morning, in the brief moment she'd looked away, she had become a terrifying, blood-soaked figure.

Sara was shocked by that transformation, by that gap.

In the short life Sara had lived up until now.

In the narrow social circle she had cultivated.

Emi's presence was simply too alien.

But to Sara, being alien wasn't something to spit on and drive away.

It was something to be embraced with curiosity.

It would be fair to say that this was simply her nature.

That attitude, that mindset, had been gradually expanding Sara's world.

Well, in any case.

Seeing Emi covered in blood.

Quite the opposite of the adults, whose faces were twitching in horror.

Sara had, once again, taken a huge liking to Emi.

Emi-chan is undergoing special training, so please absolutely do not imitate her eating habits (as if you could!!).