Chapter 254

Frieren brushed the dust from her clothes and looked at Fern.

"All right. Let’s regroup and continue exploring the dungeon."

With that, she turned and started deeper into the passage, with Fern naturally following right behind her.

"Wait."

Sense suddenly called out.

Ignoring Frieren and Fern’s puzzled looks, she turned toward Haruto and spoke seriously.

"You’ll be traveling with us from here on."

As an active First-Class Mage and one of the exam proctors, Sense was responsible for what happened inside the sealed Ruins of the King’s Tomb.

Haruto had suddenly appeared in the middle of the examination grounds. There was no way she could simply let an unknown outsider wander around freely.

If he interfered with any of the candidates, that would be a failure on her part.

Keeping Haruto with their group, where she could watch him directly, was clearly the safest option.

Frieren glanced at Sense but raised no objection.

One extra person would not interfere with her exploration of the dungeon or her treasure hunting.

And if Frieren had no objections, neither did Fern.

"Travel with you?"

Haruto paused, then looked down at the struggling mimic in his hand, over at Frieren, and finally around at the dark maze of branching stone corridors.

He had explored a dungeon before in the Delicious in Dungeon world, but the dungeons of these two worlds were obviously very different.

If he wanted to find his way out of the Ruins of the King’s Tomb, following Frieren and the others was unquestionably the best choice.

Besides, traveling with Frieren practically guaranteed that he would encounter more mimics.

That would give him plenty of opportunities to study the monsters of this world as potential ingredients.

After thinking it through, Haruto nodded without hesitation.

"Works for me."

He picked up the mimic, which was still writhing furiously in his grip, and followed the three women.

Since Haruto would now be traveling with them, Frieren, Fern, and Sense briefly introduced themselves along the way.

Of course, Haruto already knew exactly who all three of them were.

As they walked through the dungeon, however, most of his attention remained fixed on the mimic he was carrying.

His earlier Ingredient Deconstruction had already given him a clear understanding of its basic structure.

If he wanted to prevent a mimic from turning to ash after death, then at the moment of killing it, he would need to seize control of the mana making up its body and stop that mana from collapsing and dispersing.

If he could manage that, then every monster in this world would become an entirely unexplored category of premium ingredient.

The more Haruto thought about it, the more excited he became.

He did not even notice that Fern had already glanced at him several times.

She was simply too curious.

Ever since they started walking, Haruto had been muttering to himself while occasionally tapping the mimic’s lid or inspecting different parts of its body as though he were studying some priceless treasure.

They were inside a dungeon, yet instead of looking for treasure, he was obsessing over one of the lowest-level monsters imaginable.

It was bizarre.

Eventually, after they turned down another passage and confirmed there was no immediate danger, Fern slowed her pace slightly and politely asked,

"Haruto-san, may I ask what you intend to do with that mimic?"

Her question pulled Haruto out of his thoughts.

He turned toward Fern, then noticed that Frieren and Sense were clearly listening as well.

Haruto lightly shook the mimic in his hand and answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I told you earlier, didn’t I? I’m a chef, and I also work as a Gourmet Hunter."

"So naturally, I’m keeping the mimic because I want to figure out how to turn it into something delicious."

All three women stopped walking.

They turned toward Haruto almost in unison and stared at him in stunned silence.

Fern recovered first.

"You... want to cook the mimic?"

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"But it’s a monster!"

"Can monsters be eaten?"

Frieren blinked and immediately moved closer, curiosity filling her face.

She had lived for more than a thousand years and killed countless monsters, yet she had never once heard of anyone cooking them.

The thought had never even occurred to her.

Sense said nothing, but her expression made it clear that she found the idea extremely dubious.

Monsters were dangerous creatures meant to be exterminated.

The word ingredient had never belonged anywhere near them.

"Of course they can be eaten."

Haruto’s expression became completely serious.

"As far as I’m concerned, if they’re handled properly, monsters can absolutely become delicious food."

He paused and gave the mimic another small shake.

"I already analyzed its physical structure."

"The flesh itself is quite good, and it contains an enormous amount of energy. As an ingredient, its quality is extremely high."

"The only problem is that when a mimic dies, its mana collapses and its body turns to ash."

"If I can solve that and preserve the flesh intact, then there are plenty of dishes I could make from it."

"I just need to experiment and figure out how to lock the mana in place so it doesn’t disperse."

The more Haruto spoke, the brighter his eyes became.

He had no doubt that a solution existed.

After all, Nen was still one of his greatest trump cards.

If necessary, he could always develop a specialized Nen ability specifically for this purpose.

That would be his last resort, however.

If possible, Haruto would rather find a method that did not require creating an entirely new Nen ability.

Frieren, Fern, and Sense stared at him for a while, unable to quite process what they were hearing.

The whole idea was so strange that it fell completely outside their normal understanding.

Worse, Haruto was obviously serious.

He genuinely intended to cook a mimic.

Frieren stared at the monster in his hand for several seconds.

Gradually, curiosity began to replace her surprise.

She had lived for a thousand years, traveled across countless lands, and tasted food from many different countries.

But eating monsters?

That was something she had genuinely never experienced before.

She leaned a little closer to Haruto, anticipation creeping into her voice.

"Can you really eat it?"

"What does a mimic taste like? Is it sweet? Salty?"

"Frieren-sama!"

Fern grabbed at her in exasperation.

She could not believe Frieren had been won over this quickly.

"Monsters are dangerous! What if it’s poisonous?"

"It isn’t."

Haruto answered immediately, completely certain.

"Other than the mana content, every component I found is non-toxic."

"And this mimic contains a great deal of mana. Eating it should actually be beneficial to the body."

Sense frowned at him.

"Why do you want to eat monsters in the first place?"

To her, monsters were threats to human lives. A dead monster was a good monster.

Eating one had never entered her mind.

"There isn’t any deeper reason."

Haruto answered calmly.

"I want to eat one."

For him, that alone was more than enough.

Sense opened her mouth as though she intended to say something else, but after looking at Haruto’s perfectly matter-of-fact expression, she eventually gave up.

She could not understand his reasoning at all.

But it was his decision, and she had no real reason to stop him.

The group continued deeper into the dungeon.

With someone as experienced as Frieren leading the way, most of the traps inside the Ruins of the King’s Tomb might as well not have existed.

When they reached one particular corridor, Frieren glanced at the stone wall and suddenly stopped.

Under the others’ curious gazes, she felt around for a moment before pressing one specific brick.

A faint grinding sound came from the wall.

Then a section of seamless stone slowly rose, revealing a tiny hidden chamber.

Inside stood a brass treasure chest.

Frieren’s eyes immediately lit up.

She hurried inside and opened it.

This time it was a real treasure chest rather than a mimic, but its only contents were an ornate-looking medal.

Frieren was delighted anyway.

She picked it up and turned it over repeatedly in her hands as though she had discovered some priceless artifact, a deeply satisfied smile appearing on her face.

Fern watched her with an almost indulgent smile of her own.

Haruto found himself becoming interested as well.

Back when he had explored the dungeon in the Delicious in Dungeon world, most of his attention had gone toward collecting ingredients.

Today, perhaps he could try doing some actual treasure hunting.

Haruto expanded his En through the surrounding stonework.

It did not take long before he discovered another concealed compartment inside the wall of a nearby passage.

There was a small box hidden within.

He retrieved it and opened the lid.

Inside was a necklace-shaped magical item.

Unfortunately, after sitting there for so many years, whatever magic it once contained had long since faded.

"Here."

Haruto handed the necklace to Frieren.

Her eyes immediately brightened as she accepted it.

Even the way she looked at Haruto became noticeably friendlier.

He might be strange enough to want to eat monsters, but apparently he was a pretty decent person.

After carefully putting the necklace away, Frieren led the group onward.

Before long, they found the passage leading down to the next level of the dungeon.

Frieren stood in front of it for a moment, looked down the stairs—

Then turned around and continued searching the rest of the current floor.

As far as she was concerned, passing the First-Class Mage Exam was not something she needed to worry much about.

Clearing every treasure chest out of the dungeon was far more important.

During the exploration that followed, the group encountered several more mimics.

Without exception, Frieren would eagerly rush over to open each suspicious treasure chest.

And without exception, a moment later the mimic would clamp down over her upper body.

Fortunately, Fern was already experienced by now.

Every time it happened, she would walk over, push Frieren deeper into the mimic, and make the creature spit her back out.

Sense’s reaction gradually evolved from complete bewilderment, to reluctant acceptance, and finally to utter numbness.

By the end, she simply pretended not to see it anymore.

Haruto, meanwhile, happily stepped forward each time and collected every mimic that had so generously delivered itself into his hands, storing them inside the Gourmet Restaurant.

Naturally, this made Frieren, Fern, and Sense even more curious.

But none of them asked.