Chapter 326: Promise
The extra-large matsutake gave off a captivating, one-of-a-kind aroma that instantly seized the vast majority of Granny Meow’s attention,
which also let Kaelu—who had been quietly trailing along beside the two of them—secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
She certainly hadn’t forgotten the attitude she’d taken toward Andrew and Hoshimi Miyabi in front of Granny before they set out.
With the keen sharpness Granny had retained from her younger days, there was absolutely no way to keep the fact that she’d agreed to become Hoshimi Miyabi’s partner hidden from her.
And when that happened, the moment she got found out, she was definitely going to get thoroughly teased by Granny in front of all these cats.
And then, remembering how she’d talked all that big, stubborn talk in front of these little kittens in the village back then...
Sure, the fact that she’d already agreed to be Hoshimi Miyabi’s partner was something that wouldn’t change no matter what—but getting teased by everyone all at once was still a hard no, meow!
In a situation like this, Andrew—who had drawn away Granny’s attention—was simply the greatest being in all of existence!
Kaelu secretly poked her head out and watched Andrew, who had captured every last bit of Granny Meow’s attention, and in her eyes Andrew had, before she’d even realized it, begun to radiate the glory of a hero.
And in front of Andrew—
Granny Meow, whose attention had been successfully drawn by the extra-large matsutake, accepted with a face full of astonishment this enormous matsutake that had been carved off the body of Puffy Old-Six.
And this matsutake was so enormous that Granny Meow had to cradle it in both arms just to barely manage to take it.
And even this was merely one random specimen off of Puffy Old-Six’s body.
"Wait—"
Watching Andrew hand the matsutake straight over to the visibly aged Granny Meow, Hoshimi Miyabi—worried about whether Granny Meow could even carry it—instinctively went to stop him.
But then she saw it.
As the enormous matsutake came into her hands, the seemingly frail and aged Granny Meow’s arms, lifting the matsutake, didn’t tremble in the slightest.
On the contrary, she gripped it firmly and steadily in her hands, looking for all the world like she’d just casually picked up a pot of stew.
?
This... this can’t be right?
Not noticing the dumbfounded Hoshimi Miyabi off to the side, Granny Meow, the very instant she got hold of the matsutake, brought her nose up close and gave it a careful sniff.
What caught Granny Meow off guard was—
the rich mushroom fragrance directly filled Granny Meow’s entire nasal cavity, and this indicated that this matsutake’s oversized body hadn’t caused the mushroom’s umami to be split apart, that the aroma had not grown faint.
The one in her hands hadn’t merely failed to grow faint—its aroma had, if anything, become even richer?!
What kind of super new ingredient was this?!
Realizing this, Granny Meow immediately, unable to wait any longer, turned her head toward Andrew and asked:
"Little Andrew, you... where on earth did you pick this, meow?!"
Looking at the delighted Granny Meow, Andrew didn’t hold anything back either, and instead picked out the key points of what had happened during the earlier commission to explain to Granny Meow.
It was right when he got to the part about having completely dealt with the Mosswine, just about to reach the part about preparing for the return trip—
that Kaelu, who had at some unknown point snuck around behind Granny Meow and was now baring her teeth and waving her claws at Andrew to stop him from going on, suddenly caught Andrew’s attention.
Though he didn’t know why she was so resistant to it being said right now, out of respect for his new companion Andrew chose to skip over that part anyway.
Even though, in fact, according to the rules of Felyne Village...
for Kaelu to formally become Hoshimi Miyabi’s companion, she actually needed to register at Felyne Village’s registration office, so this matter of hers was bound to come to light sooner or later.
It was merely a question of when.
Listening to Andrew’s account, even though the ending seemed a bit rushed, Granny Meow—who had actually already picked up on something from the way the three of them had been positioned when they returned—didn’t mind in the least.
Instead, with a face full of relief and joy, she nodded and said:
"Good, good, good—it’s enough that you completed the commission safely, meow."
Patting the enormous matsutake in her hands, Granny Meow said with some happiness:
"Once these few mutated Mosswine have been captured, once the scholars research out the growing conditions of the matsutake on their backs, Felyne Village’s mushroom-field yields might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise, meow."
Listening to Granny Meow’s musing, Andrew nodded in agreement:
"That’s right. Even if the research fails and turns out not to be universally applicable, simply collecting the matsutake that keep growing on those Mosswine’s bodies would still count as providing the hunters at the outpost with a brand-new channel for obtaining ingredients."
Speaking of which, Andrew thought of something.
"Oh right, Granny—your gift."
Changing the subject, he pulled out of his Item Bag a new seasoning waist-pouch—made up of several pockets and able to be hung at the waist—and held it out in front of Granny Meow, saying:
"Earlier I treated completing the commission as the priority, which is why I didn’t hand it to you right away at the time—this is the gift I brought back for you this time."
"As far as I remember, you’ve been using that waist-pouch of yours ever since the Icefields era all the way up to now—you’ve been using it for many, many years, haven’t you?"
"This is a brand-new waist-pouch I perfectly replicated, one-to-one, based on the original design, and what’s packed inside it is all otherworld seasonings, you know!"
Looking at the pouch filled to the brim before her, a smile once again—full and brimming—couldn’t help but spread across Granny Meow’s kindly face.
For an old woman already so advanced in years, there was nothing more joyful than having one’s own child, who’d traveled far away, come back to visit her.
If there was anything...
it would be that this child had, from beginning to end, never once forgotten her, and had even painstakingly prepared a gift just for her.
Unable to help herself, she gratefully gave Andrew’s arm a light pat, and solemnly took the waist-pouch from Andrew’s hands.
Then, as though unwilling to let anyone see her current expression clearly, she immediately turned and walked toward the village chief’s house, her wooden ladle still waving in the air as she said:
"Alright, alright! All of you, stop crowding around here—go on and train! Tomorrow we’ve still got to repair the mushroom fields all over again, and that’s a big project, meow!"
Hearing Granny Meow’s words—
the little Felynes all around let out a cheer and immediately, as joyful as could be, ran off toward their own tree-hollows.
Earlier, because of the Mosswine’s rampaging and destruction, everyone’s mood about tidying up the mushroom fields had been somewhat low—after all, every single time, no sooner had they finished tidying it up than it would get destroyed all over again.
Now that the chief culprits had been captured, from here on they’d never have to worry about this kind of thing again!
Things were finally looking up, meow!
Having dispersed those Felynes who’d come to join in the fun, Granny Meow turned her gaze back to the three before her and said with a beaming smile:
"You few, don’t just stand there foolishly either—come in and eat, meow!"
"It’s been a while—let Granny let you taste her cooking. The sky’s gone dark already; how can you go around with empty stomachs, meow?"
But just after everyone followed Granny Meow into her room—
"Oh, that’s right, meow."
Granny Meow suddenly turned her head and, with a beaming smile, said to the somewhat puzzled Andrew beside her:
"Everyone else at the Astral Outpost has already gotten their gifts, so that Sapphire Star brat even asked me to sound you out, to find out whether or not there’s a share that belongs to him, meow."
Looking at Andrew, who instantly understood, Granny Meow earnestly admonished him with weight in her words:
"Though as your master he really is a bit of a goofball, no matter how you slice it he’s still your master, and deep down he actually cares about you a great deal, meow."
"So, little Andrew, you absolutely must not hold a grudge against him, meow."
Listening to the long-missed nagging that was so very Granny Meow, Andrew instinctively reached back and touched the other weapon on his back that had, all this while, been hidden beneath Icebrink, and said with a smile:
"Don’t worry, Granny—the gift that belongs to Master is actually something I had ready from the very start."
But the next moment, a sly grin suddenly appeared on Andrew’s face, and he said:
"But that guy screwed me over so many times back when I was a rookie hunter—so this time, let’s just let him stew and squirm a little~"
As for the trouble of having to keep this enormous gift hidden at his side every single moment over these past few days in order to conceal it...
as everyone knows, a person never gets tired while up to mischief.
And hearing Andrew say this, the tiny thread of worry that Granny Meow—who trusted him beyond measure—had been holding instantly vanished like smoke.
She nodded with a smile and said:
"Good, good, good—since you’ve got a plan, little Andrew, then Granny won’t say another word."
After that, she busied herself with brisk and nimble hands and feet.
Inside Granny Meow’s tree-house, the lamps blazed bright.
The largest clay pot had already been set by Granny Meow upon the fire pit, and Granny Meow sliced the matsutake Andrew had brought back into thin slices, then sliced up the thick bacon cured in the village.
After frying the bacon and matsutake until done in butter and scooping them out, she put butter and flour into the pot in a one-to-one ratio and stir-fried them.
Once the flour was cooked through, Granny Meow swiftly added the stock she’d long since simmered, along with the cooked side ingredients, plus salt and black pepper.
Once it had come to a full boil, she added cream once more.
The large slices of matsutake were placed into the soup one by one, the golden matsutake bobbing and sinking in the milky-white broth, the matsutake’s fragrance mingling with the aroma of cream and black pepper, all at once becoming even more layered and rich.
They’d set out to complete the task right around dinnertime to begin with, and now the moon already hung high.
Lured by this rich aroma, both Kaelu’s and Hoshimi Miyabi’s stomachs involuntarily let out an exceedingly faint growl.
The one human and one cat instinctively exchanged a glance, then, in tacit understanding, looked away at the very same moment, as though the sound just now had been nothing more than an illusion shared by the two of them.
And just like that, this newly formed pair completed their first display of tacit teamwork.
And while Granny Meow was busy, Andrew didn’t stay idle either.
After asking Granny Meow where the firewood was stacked, he set up a simple grill on the open ground outside Granny Meow’s house, cut the remaining matsutake into thick slices, brushed on a thin layer of oil, and prepared to grill them on the iron grate.
Under the high heat the matsutake gave off a faint "sizzle," their surfaces gradually turning a golden hue, the edges slightly charred and crisp.
That fragrance rose up along with the heat, drifting across the whole sky above Felyne Village, drawing the surrounding Felynes—who had all been getting ready to sleep—into endlessly swallowing their drool.
How utterly detestable, meow—to be unleashing such "poison" in the dead of night, meow.
However.
The Felynes, knowing this was the hero who’d resolved the village’s troubles now preparing his meal, still restrained the urge to go crowding over.
"Willpower... willpower, meow..."
Having walked out of the tree-house, Hoshimi Miyabi crouched beside the grill, her fox ears tilting slightly forward, watching Andrew’s practiced motions as he flipped the matsutake slices.
The roiling of the charcoal fire mingled with the sizzle of grease dripping onto the coals, making her feel that everything had become wonderfully warm.
"Hungry?"
Andrew, noticing Hoshimi Miyabi drawing near, instinctively turned his head and said:
"If you’re hungry, why not have some of what’s already grilled first? But be careful not to eat too much—if Granny sees you eating little, she’ll be heartbroken."
To Andrew’s suggestion, Hoshimi Miyabi merely shook her head and said:
"No, I want to wait and eat together with you."
"Is that so..."
Andrew didn’t mind Hoshimi Miyabi’s refusal—after all, being willing to wait for one’s companion to arrive before digging in seemed... fairly normal?
Looking at the perpetually silent Hoshimi Miyabi, Andrew changed the subject:
"This journey, coming along with me—how did it feel?"
Although Andrew’s question was a bit out of nowhere, on hearing it Hoshimi Miyabi’s eyes instantly lit up, and she immediately, earnestly nodded and said:
"I feel... like I’ve never felt this good before!"
The Ancient Forest was the supernatural craftsmanship of nature itself.
For a person of New Eridu—for whom, from the very moment of birth, the entire world had been left with nothing but a single lonely city, with everything else reduced to nothing but Hollows and desolation—
after having witnessed this vast and life-filled world, her goal underwent a slight, subtle change.
No—it would be more accurate to say it had extended.
Hoshimi Miyabi’s purpose had always been to eliminate all the Hollows; that had never once changed.
But after that?
Once the Hollows vanished, what kind of world should humanity strive to make?
Before coming to this world, Hoshimi Miyabi hadn’t known, and had never held any concept of this whatsoever.
She had never even once thought of it.
But now she knew.
She wanted to make her own world just as full of vibrant life as this world now beneath her feet—rather than one where all living things were forced, because of the Hollows, to crowd into that not-very-large space and merely cling to survival.
And yet such a vast forest, by Andrew’s account, was merely one region among the many on a single continent of this planet—nothing more.
The smallness of humanity, before true nature, is always infinitely magnified.
Of course Hoshimi Miyabi still wanted to see what the other natural landscapes of this world Andrew spoke of looked like; the world was so vast, and she wanted to go and see it.
However.
Hoshimi Miyabi had never forgotten that this return was for something of true importance, and as a Void Hunter of New Eridu, the duty that belonged to her made it impossible for her to let her own feelings run free and willful as she pleased.
As things stood now, according to the prediction the commander of the Phase Three Squad had made at the very beginning, the Frenzy Virus vaccine would have its results tomorrow.
And so her journey this time had entered its final stretch entirely.
Thinking of this, the light in Hoshimi Miyabi’s eyes dimmed slightly.
In the end she couldn’t help but speak up:
"Andrew, will we still have a chance to come back to this world afterward?"
Hearing Hoshimi Miyabi’s question, Andrew couldn’t help but break into a smile, and then, without the slightest hesitation, he nodded affirmatively:
"Of course!"
"Once I’ve sorted out this current problem, as long as you want to come, then no matter what the difficulty, I’ll definitely do everything in my power to help you resolve it!"
Hearing Andrew’s hesitation-free affirmation, the trace of dimness that had been in Hoshimi Miyabi’s pupils instantly vanished without a trace.
The light reappeared in Hoshimi Miyabi’s pupils, and she lifted her head to gaze at the Andrew before her; the habit formed over nearly half a month of being together made her instinctively want to choose to lean on him.
Because Andrew was here, even if she were to be just a tiny little bit willful, that should... be okay, right?
The air stayed silent like this for a long while, during which neither of them spoke up first, leaving only the sizzle of grease dripping onto the firewood.
And just like that, after who knew how many breaths had passed—
at last Hoshimi Miyabi, looking at the Andrew before her, softly spoke up and said in earnest:
"Then... it’s a promise—next time, if there’s a chance to come back, don’t forget to bring me along."
And as for Hoshimi Miyabi’s request, Andrew naturally had no intention of refusing.
He turned his head and gazed at Hoshimi Miyabi in the very same way.
Although, because there was still moisture in the burning firewood, Andrew’s face had picked up a few smudgy streaks of black soot, and the marks of black ash his hand had accidentally rubbed on made him look a touch disheveled—
none of this in the slightest concealed the earnestness in Andrew’s words.
He looked at the Hoshimi Miyabi before him, nodded, and said:
"It’s a promise. I give you my word."
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
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