We arrived in town.
That was all well and good, but the vampire girl's Skills hadn't grown much along the way here.
She'd earned the Evil Eater Title, but her Skill growth was still lackluster.
Well, we'd just been traveling, so it wasn't like her Skills were going to level up easily.
Once we reached town, I made a beeline for an inn.
The vampire girl looked like she was about to die, so I needed to let her rest.
Hmm.
Did I feed her too much poison?
She'd already gotten the Evil Eater Title, so maybe I could switch her meals back to normal food.
Besides, I was starting to want a proper meal myself.
While the vampire girl had been eating poison, I'd been dragged along and had to eat it too, you know?
That Demon King—he'd told me to have mine detoxified, but then he went and said that wasn't fair, so he force-fed me the poisoned dishes too.
But that ends here.
Per my agreement with the Demon King, I was going to make him make good on treating me to something delicious.
First stop: the inn.
I found the nicest inn in town and walked straight in without hesitation.
The Demon King tipped generously and rented out the best room.
Leaving the under-the-weather vampire girl and Mela behind, the Demon King and I headed out to go shopping.
Before we left, I summoned about three clones made from the baby spiders I'd collected earlier to stand guard.
Unlike the babies I'd left in the Great Ello Dungeon, the baby spiders I'd collected hadn't developed any sense of self, so I'd absorbed them and used them as clones.
Individually, each one wasn't all that strong, but with three of them together, they should be able to fend off anything up to dragon-class.
The people at the inn were unlikely to cause trouble—they were too intimidated by the Demon King's pressure—but you never knew what humans might do when money went to their heads.
Now then, shopping.
We were buying primarily groceries.
And not just any groceries—we were loading up on high-end ingredients without a shred of restraint.
The Demon King's rolling in money.
But seriously, these stares were getting on my nerves.
Ever since we'd entered town, I'd been getting eyes on me nonstop.
I'm not a sideshow, you know?
Ugh, it's so annoying.
I felt like massacring every last person staring at me.
...Okay, massacre might be out, but selective culling wouldn't be the worst idea, right?
I picked up a malicious aura among all those gazes.
While the Demon King was absorbed in his shopping, I slipped into an alley, trying to put distance between myself and whoever was watching.
I browsed the shops along the alleyway, gradually making my way toward a deserted area, casual as you please—like a lost tourist in an unfamiliar town.
The moment I reached a completely abandoned spot, I was attacked without a word.
And in the same instant, the attacker's head went flying.
I'd barely flicked the Slashing Thread, but the attacker couldn't put up any resistance whatsoever and was dead before they knew it.
It was so anticlimactic it didn't even serve as a stress reliever.
I had no idea what this person's motive was for attacking me—probably planning to capture me and sell me into slavery, or take me hostage as leverage against the Demon King, or use me as an outlet for their desires. Something along those lines.
Trash like this wasn't even useful for stress relief, but since I had the chance, I might as well collect the blood.
It was for Mela to drink, but I should really start having that guy gather blood on his own before long.
The Demon King seemed to like Mela, and I'd been looking after him as a sort of add-on bonus for the vampire girl, but honestly, I had no real interest in the guy.
I finished the job quickly, then tossed the corpse into the pocket dimension where I stored my clones.
I felt the clones inside the pocket dimension begin to devour the corpse, then headed back to the Demon King.
But this was something I needed to address sooner rather than later.
If just being around a lot of people made me this irritable, there was no telling when I'd finally snap.
There was also the matter of Kuro, so I was managing to hold back on the mass killing, but my mood was absolutely foulest.
"Oh, done done!"
While I'd been wasting time, the Demon King had apparently finished shopping.
"You're done?"
"Yeah. This should be enough for today."
"What are you going to do with just ingredients?"
"Hm? I'm going to cook them myself."
What?
I'd assumed he'd call in some top-tier chef from the city to do the cooking, but the Demon King was going to do it himself?
"Heh heh heh. I haven't lived this long for nothing, you know. Let me tell you—my cooking skills are on an entirely different level from your average chef."
Oh ho.
Very well then.
Show me what you've got.
The Demon King rented out the inn's kitchen and got to work the moment we returned.
I went back to the room ahead of them and waited impatiently for the food to be ready.
It took three hours.
Three hours later, the Demon King finally brought the dishes to the room with the help of the inn staff.
I waited.
I waited so long.
I deserved credit for my patience.
The vampire girl, who'd been asleep, woke up drawn by the smell, and we all gathered around the table.
"Well then, let's eat."
"Let's eat!"
We dug into the long-awaited meal.
Fish first.
!?!
T-Tasty!
The moment it hit my mouth, a rich, luscious sauce exploded with flavor.
It was similar to mayonnaise, but far more refined and mellow.
And despite that richness, the fish's natural umami clearly came through, weaving together with the sauce in perfect harmony.
This was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten in my entire life.
Ah, come to think of it, I'd never actually eaten a proper meal before.
The only food offerings I'd ever received were the sweetness of fruits and desserts.
This was genuinely the first time in my life I'd eaten a real, properly prepared meal without any poison.
When that realization hit me, I started crying.
I ate slowly, savoring every bite.
I worried the tears might have made things a little salty, but that just made the alcohol go down even better.
Good morning.
Huh?
When did I build a makeshift cocoon?
I was surrounded by a white cocoon of slime centered on the bed.
Actually, when did I fall asleep?
Hmm?
My memory had gone blank.
I remembered eating the Demon King's cooking and being moved to tears, but everything after that was a blank.
Did I get drunk and pass out?
Anyway, time to get up.
When I emerged from my makeshift cocoon, the Demon King greeted me with the most wonderful smile.
"Shiro. Lightning Circuit—open!"
The Demon King's body erupted in a brilliant white glow.
At the same time, a fist shot forward and drove into my body over and over and over.
"Grit your teeth!"
Guh!?
What the—what is this, first thing in the morning?!
I crumpled.