Ch 96 -- Fer Hunts Something Amazing

I was starting to worry as the sun set with no sign of Fer but then he suddenly returned, noisily bursting through the tree branches and startling me.

--Thump-- Fer casually dropped a big lizard that he was carrying in his mouth onto the ground in front of me.

"I was delayed." Fer not-apologised for his tardiness in a very Fer-like manner.

"...Uh Fer, what"s with this big lizard thing?" I asked nervously, dreading the answer. It looked a bit like a Komodo dragon lizard I had seen on TV but bigger, from the tip of its snout to the end of its tail it must have been at least five metres long.

"I caught a sniff of something special and followed my nose." Fer said in a satisfied tone. "I came across something that would put up a fight against me at last."

That"s not what I asked, Fer, just what is this big lizard thing?

"That flock of Wyverns got my hopes up but they turned out to be a disappointment." Fer shrugged. "However after I tracked down this Earth Dragon, I finally got a little exercise."

...Fer, what did you just say? I wondered if my hearing was getting worse.

"Uh, Fer, what did you say?"

"Is your hearing getting worse? I said, because that flock of Wyverns were a disappointment I went off and got some real exercise with this Earth Dragon here."

"...A-, an Earth Dragon?" I stuttered.

"Yep. That"s it. That"s an Earth Dragon." Fer nudged the big lizard with his snout. "Right there."

I used Appraisal on the giant Komodo Dragon lizard thing lying on the ground.

[ Earth Dragon]

That"s all, there were no other stats because, well, Fer had killed it. Ummm...

"What, what did you...?" I stumbled to a halt, my brain locking up as I tried to deal with what Fer had just done.

"What? What did I do what?" Fer looked confused, as if he naturally hunted dragons every day, no biggie and why was I surprised?

"What?" I repeated myself. "An Earth Dragon, why did you hunt it?"

"Why not?" Fer shrugged. "Dragon meat tastes delicious, I told you before. Isn"t that a good reason to hunt it?"

I thought hurriedly, trying to explain to a confused Fer. "No no no, it"s great that the meat is delicious, that"s not a problem." I waved my hands. "If the Adventurer"s Guild couldn"t purchase the Chimaera and Orthros you hunted earlier then do you think they could buy the materials from an Earth Dragon?"

Fer looked disappointed. "Nu, Dragon"s meat is really delicious." Stop drooling, Fer, we"re having a serious discussion here. He suddenly perked up.

"Hey, even if they wouldn"t buy the materials, couldn"t you get them to dismantle it anyway?" Oh, just dismantling? That might work... Smart thinking, Fer.

"I"ll talk to the Guild Master and Johan about it, see if they can dismantle it for us. However it"s a Dragon... I don"t know if they can actually disa.s.semble something like that."

"Hm, you"ve got a point. I was looking forward to eating Dragon"s meat after a very long while. We"ll wait and see what happens..."

I"ll see what they say but it"s an Earth Dragon after all. Looks like they"re in for another surprise. Haaa~.

Fer"s nose wrinkled as he sniffed. "Hey something smells good." Now the matter of the Earth Dragon was dealt with -- at least for now -- Fer had reverted to his usual gluttonous self. I deposited the giant body of the Earth Dragon in my Item Box to make some s.p.a.ce to serve dinner.

"You want to eat dinner here?" Stupid question.

"Well, yeah." Predictable answer.

I started serving the beef bowl. Leaving the beef stew for later will make it taste better as the beef gets more tender. I put rice I had cooked beforehand into dishes and then piled plenty of meat on top. I woke Sui up.

"Sui, your dinner"s ready."

"Oh? Dinner-"

"Yes, here"s your dinner."

"Dinner-"

I gave a beef bowl (extra large portions) to Fer and Sui.

"Mumu, this is delicious."

"Really, the meat is soooo tasty~"

The way they were talking it was clear they both liked beef bowl so I decided it was my turn to eat and what I"d like was to put some eggs on my beef bowl. When I opened Net Super and looked at the eggs on offer something special caught my eye. Oh yesssss... I bought hot spring eggs which had been soft-boiled in natural hot water. Soft-boiled eggs on a beef bowl are delicious. I broke them into the meat letting the runny yolk soak down into the rice below then stirred them in and popped some into my mouth.

"Yummy~"

Adding the soft-boiled eggs mellows the taste. Delicious. This calls for tea, doesn"t it... I took a PET bottle of green tea I had bought earlier from my Item Box. Gulp gulp gulp... my mouth was refreshed, then back to the beef bowl. Yum yum.

"Hey, seconds here." Fer squinted suspiciously at my own bowl. "Hold on, why"ve you got eggs on yours? You trying to be sneaky? I want some too."

"Sui wants seconds too. Put egg on Sui"s-"

Yeah yeah. I made up two more beef bowls (extra large), got two more hot-spring eggs and broke them on top of the meat before handing the out the dishes to the two gluttons.

"Muuu, putting the egg on top is completely delicious."

"Sui also likes the way the eggs taste-"

So they both like beef bowls with runny soft-boiled eggs, devouring them greedily. Several servings later they finally declared they were satisfied.

"Fuu-, that was really tasty." Fer announced.

"It was really delicious-" Sui agreed.

"Well then, are we going back to the city now?" I enquired. We were all done here, I thought.

"Uh-huh."

"Yup."

I was going to get on Fer"s back for the trip back to town but...

"Fer?" I couldn"t get on his back. Yuck.

"What?" He looked back over his shoulder at me.

"You- you"re dirty." I blurted out, staring at Fer"s matted hair.

"W- what?" Fer exclaimed.

Until now I hidn"t really taken any notice but now I"d had a bath and I was all clean myself I couldn"t ignore it any longer. I poked at the clumped ma.s.ses of dirty hair on his coat.

"See, all the hair here is filthy, it"s sticking together and matted. You"ve got to have noticed it"s in terrible condition, haven"t you Fer?"

"Uh, well, that"s not really-." Fer hesitated. "Look, I groom myself regularly..." He couldn"t look me in the eye as he said that though.

"No no no, you"re do not doing it right." I declared. It was obvious he wasn"t taking care of his coat properly at all.

"Ummm-"

"Right, I"ve decided, I"m going to wash you tomorrow, Fer."

"Wh-" Fer whined.

"Are you scared of water? Is that what you"re telling me?" I pressed him.

"P- positively not." Fer declared, still unable to look me in the eye.

"That"s good then. I"ll give you a bath tomorrow, Fer. I"ve decided."

"Gwuuuh" Fer whined quietly, his muzzle pressed against the ground in submission. He really wasn"t keen on the idea but I had to be firm, the condition of his coat was a disgrace. I"d have to get some dog shampoo and a brush to wash and groom Fer properly. Could I buy dog shampoo from the Net Super?