Chapter 58: The Day a Wolf Wagged His Tail

The devil’s trial. Yes, this is definitely the devil’s test.

“Captain?”

Flinch.

Alec snapped back to reality and hurriedly straightened his posture.

As a wolf warrior who had to set an example, he could not let his juniors see him looking disheveled.

There was no reason to be intimidated. 

A nightmare was only a nightmare. 

Even if he had been defeated countless times in his dreams, reality was different.

If he steeled his heart, no temptation could break his will.

This was a matter of a warrior’s pride and self-respect.

No matter what dish the human tried to seduce him with this time, breaking the heart of a wolf warrior would not be so easy.

Alec’s eyes blazed with resolve.

Turning away like a coward was out of the question. 

He had no choice but to face it head-on and overcome it.

“Training ends here. Everyone finish up on your own.”

With those words, Alec walked toward the human merchant. 

His heart was heavy, yet for some reason his steps felt light.

The human looked around.

“It’d be nice if there was somewhere to sit. Is there a table nearby?”

“Follow me. There’s a break room.”

After guiding him to the break room, they sat across from each other at the table.

“You must be working hard training since early morning.”

“It’s what I always do.”

Alec swore to himself that no matter how friendly the human acted, he would never fall for it, yet his eyes kept drifting to the food container the man had brought.

Ahem. “By the way, what’s that?”

“Ah, I talked too long with food right in front of us.”

The human lifted the lid. Glossy, appetizing slices of meat revealed themselves in all their glory.

“I made some boiled pork (suyuk). I’m not sure if it’ll suit your taste.”

Alec’s pupils shook violently. It looked obviously delicious.

He tensed every muscle in his body.

Get it together. 

I am a proud wolf warrior. 

A proud wolf warrior. 

A proud wolf…

“I’m not forcing you. It’s completely fine if you don’t want to eat it.”

As the human moved to close the lid again, Alec hurriedly stopped him.

“N-no! Of course I should try it. Not because I want to, but out of respect for the effort you put into bringing it.”

Even Alec thought it was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

A wolf warrior must never run away! He would face this mere food head-on and triumph over the temptation.

Alec picked up a piece of suyuk with his fork.

The fork sank in effortlessly.

This is definitely going to be insanely tender.

Swallowing his saliva, Alec slowly brought the meat to his mouth.

Chomp.

ZAP!

Every cell on his tongue trembled.

He had thought it would be just a wave.

Instead, a colossal tsunami of flavor crashed over him.

The towering wave smashed through his iron-clad defenses in a single blow.

The impregnable fortress he had sworn would never fall crumbled like a sandcastle.

“…”

“Mr. Alec? Are you all right?”

Clinging to the last shred of his fading consciousness, Alec thought,

He definitely put some kind of potion in the food.

And immediately entered denial mode.

Even though his sensitive nose already knew there was no potion, he desperately searched for any excuse as to why he had collapsed so instantly.

But it was only an excuse.

To think I fell to mere food!

Alec was so furious and humiliated with himself he could hardly bear it.

But… it was just so delicious…

“Thank you for liking my cooking.”

“…?”

The human suddenly expressed gratitude.

“Actually, this was my first time handling magical beast meat, so I was a little nervous.”

“M-magical beast meat?”

“It’s horned boar pork belly.”

“This is magical beast meat? There’s no gamey smell at all, and it’s this tender?”

“I boiled it for a long time with doenjang and herbs.”

Just how long did he have to boil it to make it this soft?

Alec was speechless.

“Thank you for the kind review despite my lacking dish. Thanks to you, I feel confident about selling it.”

The human smiled brightly.

“Ah… yes…”

Only then did Alec realize he had been completely mistaken.

The human wasn’t trying to tame him; he had simply wanted help with his business.

“I’m really glad it suited your taste.”

“I’m… glad I could help.”

Alec let go of his pointless stubbornness.

He felt a little embarrassed for getting worked up all by himself over a misunderstanding.

Wait… did I actually say it was delicious out loud?

Alec tilted his head.

And then.

“Just so you know, I won’t tell anyone that your tail was wagging.”

“…?!”

Clang.

His heart dropped to the floor.

Alec finally understood.

He had crossed an irreversible river. He had been helplessly wagging his tail the entire time, furiously at that.

“Ah!”

With a short gasp, his soul left his body.

In the end, the pride of a wolf collapsed. His shredded self-respect turned to tatters along with his mind.

The nightmare had become reality.

It felt as if a massive shackle had been locked around his neck.

Whether intended or not, Alec had been completely caught by his weakness.

***

I was relieved that Alec liked the suyuk.

He seemed deeply shocked that his tail had been wagging, but I told him not to worry and that he’d get over it soon enough.

Adventurers had fainted, cried, and wailed the first time too, but now they accepted it as completely normal, didn’t they?

Thanks to him, I now had a clear direction. 

If I kept researching and improving, I was confident I could master magical beast meat cuisine.

Of course, there was no guarantee that all five beastman tribes had the same tastes, so I’d have to research the preferences of the other tribes soon as well.

Lost in such thoughts while walking, I arrived at the apothecary before I knew it.

Jingle.

The bell rang as I opened the door.

“Mr. Fabir, you came!”

Elise greeted me warmly.

“Is Elise watching the shop today? Where’s Mr. Bernard?”

“He got an urgent call that the amenity products were running out, so he rushed to deliver more to the Rose Inn.”

“Business must be booming.”

“You have no idea. I wanted to go see it myself, but they said reservations are fully booked until next month.”

“Really?”

“It looks like they placed a huge feature ad in the local newspaper.”

He had boasted that he’d make the Rose Inn the most famous inn in Alburton this time, and it seems he actually went and bought a newspaper ad.

“Advertising really is scary.”

“It’s not just the ad. Even before that, rumors were flying around Alburton that Mr. Fabir frequents the Rose Inn.”

“They were?”

“I also heard you bought magical beast meat from the dismantling site?”

Clang—

I suddenly felt like someone had discovered my shameful hobby.

“Y-you even knew about that?”

“Information travels fast, you know. A lot of adventurers have been asking if a new product is coming out soon.”

…They’re tracking my every move. I feel like a celebrity.

There seem to be more people watching me than I thought, so I’d better be careful when I’m out.

Elise’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“But what are you using the magical beast meat for?”

“W-well… I cooked it.”

“You cooked it? Wow!”

Elise clapped and bounced in place.

Her reaction was the complete opposite of what I expected. She was actually excited.

“You’re even cooking magical beast meat? Anything Mr. Fabir makes definitely has mysterious effects!”

Magical beast meat is used as alchemical material, so a very small number of people did eat it as a restorative dish, but it was rare and the effects were unverified.

Ever since the witch’s brew incident, Elise had been obsessed with analyzing and researching my crops.

It all started with the mysterious light that burst from the child who drank the witch’s brew.

I didn’t stop her since she enjoyed it, but she seemed to be firmly under the impression that I was using some kind of magic.

Jingle—

The bell rang again as the door opened.

“Oh?”

My eyebrows shot up.

“Hello, Mr. Fabir. Looks like I found the right place.”

“Huh? What brings you here?”

It was Vitus, the dwarf who had judged the forging contest.

He had mentioned stopping by the apothecary once, but I had taken it as mere politeness.

That made sense; he was an upper-rank adventurer, after all.

Come to think of it, how long had it been since we met in the dwarf village?

“I had business at the local Adventurer’s Guild, and I remembered you on the way, so I dropped by.”

“Welcome! I was wondering why it was so noisy outside; it was because of you, Mr. Vitus?”

Cayton’s jaw dropped.

“V-Vitus?!”

Cayton looked back and forth between me and Vitus.

A complicated mix of emotions tangled across his face.