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It seemed like Namitarou heard my muttering, because it suddenly started thrashing about.
"The fish is going wild!"
"Watch out! You'll get hurt!"
"It really was a monster after all!"
The rampaging Namitarou caused the surrounding spectators to scatter all at once.
Only the adventurers among the crowd and those confident in their own abilities held their weapons at the ready, closing in on Namitarou to launch attacks.
"Come on!"
"Take this!"
"Drop dead, you freak!"
Three adventurers were the first to charge at Namitarou. Their weapons, in order, were a two-handed sword, a spear, and an axe, all of which appeared well-worn from use. Moreover, the coordination among the adventurers was impeccable.
However...
"Out of my way!"
The surrounding humans could not comprehend the
language
that Namitarou roared in. With that cry, it swung its tail once, and the adventurers' weapons went soaring through the air.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
Following that came a three-hit combo from Namitarou's tail. Each strike found its mark on an adventurer, and this time it was the adventurers who went flying through the air.
"I-it's a monster!"
"W-we're gonna be killed! Everyone, run!"
The adventurers who had intended to defeat Namitarou began to panic at the creature's overwhelming strength.
In the midst of that chaos, Namitarou — now officially deemed a monster — closed the distance to me with swift, ground-skimming movements.
"Kid! Run!"
Someone screamed, and cries of terror erupted from all around.
Jeanne froze in shock at Namitarou's approach, Primera had already begun to charge forward to intercept Namitarou, and the three sisters were right behind her, weapons drawn and ready to attack — but —
'Acceleration mode!'
Shouting something out of a cyborg warrior's playbook, Namitarou instantly accelerated and beat Primera to the punch.
That threw Primera off her timing, making her hesitate — and because of that, the three sisters couldn't move in either.
Namitarou wasn't slowing down as it bore down on me, so I waited for an opening it couldn't possibly dodge —
"Hah!"
I threw open the mouth of the Dimension Bag containing Shiromaru and the others, and stored
Namitarou
inside.
'Bye-bye-kyyyyy!'
Releasing a cry only I could make sense of, Namitarou was sucked into the bag.
"Well, this thing's actually pretty useful…"
Satisfied with this new application, I closed the bag's opening. Right after Namitarou had been pulled inside, I could have sworn I heard the sound of rocks crashing together and Shiromaru's scream, but I decided not to worry about it.
No sooner had I made that decision than the bag was pushed open from the inside, and Shiromaru — sporting a fresh bump on his head — came tumbling out.
"Gaugh! Gaugh gaugh, gaugh!"
Shiromaru looked like he was absolutely furious.
I soothed Shiromaru, treated the bump on his head, and promised to bring out a big chunk of meat for dinner to get back on his good side. His mood seemed to improve a little, so I was about to slip away from the scene, but —
"Hey, kid… leave the fish behind."
The fishmonger, who had just remembered about Namitarou, grabbed me by the shoulder.
After a lengthy negotiation, I secured full ownership of Namitarou. For the record, Namitarou's price was one gold coin — roughly 100,000 yen.
When we got back to Grandpa's estate, the first thing we did was build a makeshift pond (or more like a puddle) in the yard and fill it with water. Then we dragged Namitarou out of the bag and dumped him in.
Namitarou floated upside-down on the surface, not moving a muscle, so the three girls started poking at him with brooms and whatnot that were lying nearby.
"Tenma, how do we even eat this thing?"
"Those scales look really tough. And we'd have to purge the mud from inside him too."
"He looks dead. The mud won't come out if he's dead… What do we do?"
As the three of them spoke, I could have sworn Namitarou twitched just a little.
"Well, I'd love to purge him first, but if he's dead, then what can you do! Once we fillet him, we could try soaking the pieces in water, or go heavy on the seasoning and herbs — I think we can make it work somehow!"
I answered loudly enough for Namitarou to hear. This time, he moved a bit more than before.
"But what about the scales?"
It wasn't me who answered Jeanne's question — it was Primera, who looked like she had just had an idea.
"Why not try using the Gigant's new equipment? No matter how tough those scales are, I seriously doubt they could withstand a blow from the Gigant."
So with that decided, we promptly
summoned
the Gigant. I swapped out only its right hand for a sword, leaving the left arm as it was.
"All right, let's do this!"
I grabbed Namitaro by the base of his tail with the Gigant's left hand, hoisted him upside down, and plonked him onto the stone table in the yard.
I held Namitaro firmly in place with the Gigant's left hand and raised the right hand high—
"Mercy! I surrender, Tenma!"
Namitaro finally surrendered. He apparently figured he wouldn't come out in one piece if he took a blow from the Gigant.
"Nyaaa! It can talk?!"
"A monster!"
"Tenma! Crush it already!"
The three girls were startled by Namitaro suddenly speaking and scrambled behind me. The moment they were surprised, their cat ears and tails shot straight up and they leaped a little off the ground. Even though they were beastkin, they really were just cats at heart, I thought.
Primera and Jeanne didn't scream, but both were clearly shaken and froze for an instant. However, Primera quickly recovered and stepped forward as if to shield Jeanne, drawing her sword and keeping her guard up against Namitaro, while Jeanne readied herself to cast a spell at a moment's notice.
Well, I wasn't sure whether anyone besides me could actually deal real damage to Namitaro, but there was no need to just stand by and watch acquaintances fight each other.
"Ah... it's okay, everyone. This guy's an acquaintance of mine."
As I introduced Namitaro while holding him upside down, he writhed his body, dropped to the ground, and started moving one
pectoral fin
to wave a greeting.
"Heya! Name's Namitaro. Nice to meet ya!"
Namitaro greeted them in a cheerful voice, but the women could only see a talking fish equals monster, and on top of that he was apparently my acquaintance, so they had no idea how to respond.
"No need to be so nervous. I'm just a little fish, y'know... Let's get along!"
Saying things like that, he nimbly writhed his way closer to everyone.
"Nyaaa! Don't come over here!"
"Monster—!"
"Creep—!"
Unable to endure any more of Namitaro's approach, the three girls shrieked and fled once again.
Seeing this, Namitaro locked onto the three girls as his targets and began chasing after them.
"Tenma-san, are you really
that thing's
acquaintance?"
"Tenma,
what
is that?"
Pointing at Namitaro, who was chasing the three girls around, Primera and Jeanne questioned him.
"Yeah, I met Namitaro when I left Kukuri Village. And well, I don't know the details, but supposedly he's classified as a fish... Not that I'm confident about that."
While we were talking about all that, the three girls came fleeing in our direction.
"Hey, hey~! Ladies, just give it up already!"
Namitaro was saying things like that, but he seemed to be holding back somewhat, chasing the three while keeping a consistent distance.
Still, he was clearly getting a bit too carried away, so I decided to teach him a lesson.
When Namitaro drew close, I timed it just right and opened the bag.
"Too naive!"
Namitaro jumped at the last moment, trying to leap over me, but...
"You're the one wh—!"
I cast a spell to create a thick earthen wall right where Namitaro was about to land.
"Whoa—!"
Namitaro, distracted by the bag, couldn't dodge the wall and slammed straight into it, finally coming to a stop.
The three girls swarmed the Namitaro who was stuck in the wall, pummeling him with brooms and wooden sticks they found nearby, but he didn't seem to be taking much damage, so I let them have at it for as long as they wanted... Namitaro brought this on himself anyway.
"So, he's a bit of a show-off and a suspicious guy, but as long as you're not enemies, he's harmless... or at least I think so."
"My pleasure!"
After introducing Namitaro to everyone — noting that even the three girls' pummeling couldn't faze him thanks to his natural defense (scales) — Namitaro bowed once more in greeting.
"By the way, Namitaro... isn't your speech even shadier than before?"
His previously suspicious dialect had now mixed in with all sorts of other dialects (from his past life), making him sound even more dubious.
"Well, when you've lived long enough, all sorts of things happen, ya know?"
It was almost like an answer from someone who'd achieved a certain kind of enlightenment, but he'd probably just forgotten his original dialect. Also, you're a carp! Definitely not human!
Namitaro answered with a composed look on his face, but there was something I needed to get out of the way first.
"Namitaro, for the record, your current status is that you're my
property.
So I'm going to put you to work."
I was the one who bought Namitaro from the fish market, so I was currently considered his
owner.
After explaining this, Namitaro accepted it surprisingly without fuss.
"Sure thing! I'll work right hard for Tenma!"
With that said, I decided to add him to the team roster... At this rate, I might not even have to fight in the Team Battle myself...
Looking at the current fighting power of my team...
Slarin... roughly B to A rank equivalent.
Shiromaru... S rank equivalent.
Solomon... B rank equivalent.
Namitaro... S rank or above (in water only, on land unknown).
That about sums it up... Honestly, I can't really gauge Slarin's strength, so I'd estimate B to A rank, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she was actually S rank... Solomon's still just a kid, so this is about what I'd expect.
As for Namitaro, he'd really only be able to show his full power in water, but judging by how wild he got at the fish shop, he could probably hold his own on land to some extent.
Either way, there probably aren't many teams out there where the average rank of the Familiars exceeds A, like mine does.
While I was mulling this over, the three girls, Primera, and even Jeanne were all huddled together whispering.
"Seriously, what even is Tenma?"
"First Slarin, then Shiromaru, and now Namitaro as his Familiars... They're all really powerful Monsters..."
"And Namitaro is gross, too..."
"On top of that, his swordsmanship, magic, and even martial arts are all top-tier... When you think about it normally, he's not just amazing — he's basically broken."
"And he also knows all about medicine, cooking, and a bunch of other stuff..."
It looked like the five of them had grouped up to talk about me. They were all speaking in hushed voices so I wouldn't hear, but all it takes is a slight boost to my physical abilities and I can hear every word.
I thought I'd go set up a dwelling for Namitaro while the five of them finished their little discussion, but when I turned around, Namitaro was waving his pectoral fins toward the second floor of the mansion for some reason.
I followed his gaze and saw Grandpa standing up there.
When Grandpa locked eyes with me, he stepped forward from where he was and made his way over to us.
"What's this, Tenma? You've got another new Familiar?"
Grandpa addressed me directly. In response, Namitaro greeted him.
"Ohayo! I'm Nami-chan. Nice to meet you!"
...For some reason, she changed her character.
"Oh, you can talk? That's rare. I'm Merlin, Tenma's grandfather. Nice to meet you."
And Grandpa didn't even bat an eye... which was impressive in more ways than one.
The two of them hit it off right away and left me completely out of their conversation... I felt a little lonely...
With a faint sense of loneliness settling in, I set out to create a pond by myself for Namitaro.
I went with a size of 10 by 20 meters, with a depth of roughly 1 to 1.5 meters. I hardened the edges of the pond with earth magic until they were practically solid rock, so they shouldn't break easily, and the water should stay clearer as a result. I also filled it with water using magic, but when I was worrying about how to handle the oxygen supply underwater, Namitaro said he'd figure it out on his own, so I left it to him.
By the time the pond was finished, the five of them had wrapped up their discussion, and someone suggested we start getting dinner ready.
However, Aura and the others still hadn't returned... It seemed like Aina and Chris's conversation was running long.
So this time, I ended up doing the cooking. Lately we'd been eating out a lot or Aina had been making meals, so it had been a while since I got to flex my skills in the kitchen.
For this meal, I was going to tackle something I'd been wanting to make: curry.
As it happened, I had recently discovered a food stall that used spices in their cooking and had studied up on how they prepared their dishes.
Of course, what they were making was skewers, so combining that with my own knowledge turned this into something of an experiment, but there was no helping that. I'd just have to do my best not to waste any ingredients.
I convinced the person running that food stall to teach me the spice blend (though I did buy over fifty servings' worth of skewers first, so he was happy to share), and then I went to the shop they recommended and bought up spices as if I were cleaning them out.
First, I stir-fried a large amount of onions until they turned a caramel color and tossed them into a stockpot. Then I cut potatoes, carrots, and beef into bite-sized pieces and added those to the pot as well.
I poured water into the stockpot with all the ingredients, brought it to a boil, skimmed off the scum that rose to the surface, and let it simmer for a while.
Meanwhile, I used a frying pan to carefully toast flour — making sure not to burn it — until it turned a golden-fox color.
I mixed the toasted flour with half of the spices, then gradually dissolved the mixture into the broth a little at a time as I added it to the stockpot.
After that, it was just a matter of tasting and adjusting, adding more spices little by little until it reached the flavor I wanted.
About an hour after I started cooking, something resembling curry was complete. This time I didn't make it too spicy — I used honey and other ingredients to keep it somewhere between mild and medium heat. However, for my own portion, I set some of the remaining spices aside and mixed them in to kick up the heat.
And so the completed curry (or something resembling it) was carried off to the room where everyone was gathered.
I had left the rice to Jeanne, so it came out on the softer side, but that wasn't particularly problematic. Incidentally, Aina and the others had returned partway through the curry preparation, and she apologized for not being able to help with the cooking (only Aina did, that is).
When I opened the lid on the stockpot full of curry and the clay pot of cooked rice, the scent of curry spices flooded the room. The less experienced faces—particularly the three girls—were startled, but there was no sign of rejection, so I spooned rice onto plates and ladled the light-brown curry over top before handing them out.
"Well then, let's eat."
I pressed my palms together, then scooped up some curry with my spoon and brought it to my mouth.
"Ohh… it actually tastes like curry."
My first reaction, more than "this is delicious," was "this is nostalgic"—after all, it had been roughly fifteen years since I'd last had curry. I dove into the curry with abandon, shoveling it in.
The others watched my reaction before starting in on their own portions.
Their responses were, respectively…
"It's an unusual flavor, aye. A wee bit of a tingle, but not bad at all."
"A new way to use spices. I've had spice-based soups before, but I've never heard of thickening a sauce with flour and serving it over rice."
"Not bad. It might've been too much if it were any spicier, but this is the kind of flavor that grows on you."
"Indeed. But whether it's the spices or not, my body's been warming up and I've started to sweat."
Grandpa, Aina, Chris, and Primera all gave it positive reviews.
On the other hand…
"Nyaa~ so spicy~… can I have some waaater?"
"My tongue is all tingly~"
"Way too many spices~"
"Tenma… I'm not good with this…"
The three girls and Jeanne, however, were far less impressed.
"Tenma, I'll have seconds. Also, that girl over there hasn't moved a muscle."
Namitaro was happily chowing down on the curry. And as for "that girl over there" — Aura had been back at the mansion (dragged there, really) since earlier, her eyes just as lifeless as ever.
"…Here you go, Namitaro. And Aura gets this one."
I handed Namitaro his second helping, then scooped up a spoonful of my own curry — extra spices stirred in — and shoved it into Aura's mouth.
"…Mm."
"Hm?"
"HYAAAAA!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
Setting aside whether that was an appropriate sound for a young lady to make, Aura was pulled back to the living world by the power of curry… Ah, great is the power of
CURRY
…
"Lord Tenma! Forget all that — water! Give me water!"
In a full-blown panic, Aura snatched the cup I held out and chugged it down in one go.
She then got scolded by Aina for that.
So I'd say the debut of curry was a decent success, all things considered… For the record, my final verdict was: "It's curry, all right, but it's not quite the curry I'd been hoping for."
After dinner, Aina and Chris headed for the castle, Primera went off to join her fellow knights, and the three girls returned to their inn.
Namitaro, who had barged into the mansion uninvited, headed back to the garden pond after sharing a few drinks with Gramps.
On the way, I decided to ask him about something that had been on my mind.
"Hey, Namitaro. You got yourself caught again?"
Namitaro fixed me with a deadly serious(?) expression…
"Tenma… Just 'cause I'm a fish, don't you go thinking I get caught all the time. You're dead wrong about that."
"S-sorry..."
"I was just swimming along half-asleep and got caught in a net, that's all!"
For some reason, he said this proudly, puffing out his chest.
Namitaro.
...I feel like I wasted my sympathy! Seriously!
"You could have just escaped along the way..."
"Well, I thought about that, but... a huge pile of clams and stuff were being transported along with me too. I couldn't help but eat too much and fell asleep..."
"...for about ten days... and when I came to, I was on a cutting board!"
"Truly a 'carp on the cutting board,' eh!"
Namitaro was laughing away... Buddy, at that rate, all that's left is for you to be cooked...
And so, the night before the tournament wore on...
Namitaro had become a companion...
But Namitaro was not one of Tenma's Familiars.
Formally speaking, he was Tenma's possession, but both sides saw him as a helper.
So, after the tournament, he might strike out on his own journey, or he might stay on and continue being taken care of by Tenma.