Chapter 188: Learning About Magic

"Um, what exactly is Space-Time Magic...?"

When Xiao Tao timidly asked about it, Qiu Nuoya began explaining the magic of this world to him from the very beginning. It reminded Qiu Nuoya of how Igor and Viktor had taught him all sorts of things when he first arrived in this world.

As he continued explaining things to Xiao Tao, a rather awkward rumbling sound suddenly echoed through the room.

"Eh?"

"Ah..."

Xiao Tao rubbed his stomach with an embarrassed expression.

Come to think of it, he had spent almost his entire time in this world running from one place to another. He probably had not been able to eat a proper meal very often.

"Are you hungry?"

"Mm... I’m sorry."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. You’re still growing, after all. Let’s continue talking after you’ve had something to eat."

They decided to have something to eat first and began preparing their campsite for the night. Everyone divided up the work, with some preparing the cooking fire and others getting the food ready.

Since they would reach the city tomorrow, Qiu Nuoya figured it would be fine to use some of their stored supplies. He took a generous amount of ingredients out of his Magic Bag.

They surrounded the firewood with stones to make a simple cooking hearth. They had brought an iron griddle and a pot with them as well. For today’s meat, Qiu Nuoya used Cockeratrice thigh meat and Horn Rabbit breast meat.

He also prepared plenty of vegetables, roughly chopped them into large chunks, and tossed them into the pot.

"Um, you’ve got a ridiculous amount of stuff in that bag. Vegetables are one thing, but you’ve even got whole pieces of meat in there. How does it even work? That iron griddle was obviously bigger than the bag itself, wasn’t it?"

"Ah, this is called a Magic Bag. It’s a type of magic tool."

Xiao Tao continued staring at Qiu Nuoya’s bag in amazement. Well, considering that everything he saw and heard was probably new to him, it was only natural that he would be fascinated.

[ Master, what about the alcohol? ]

"You want some? Sure. Give me a second."

Xiao Tao flinched when he heard Long speak and quickly hid behind Qiu Nuoya.

Well, Long’s appearance was certainly not that of an ordinary human. Given his strange, inhuman features, Qiu Nuoya could understand why Xiao Tao would be startled.

"Ah, don’t worry. Long won’t do anything to you."

[ Even I didn’t expect the owner of such a cursed sword to be this much of a coward. There’s no point bothering with him anyway. ]

Long did not seem particularly interested in Xiao Tao either, so there was no reason for him to be so frightened. Yet Xiao Tao still refused to leave Qiu Nuoya’s side.

"Um, something about that person’s voice sounds strange. What’s going on?"

"Hm? Can you hear Long’s voice?"

"It feels like it’s echoing directly inside my head. It’s kind of creepy, but yeah, I can hear him."

Oh, could this mean that Xiao Tao, like him, also had an automatic translation function?

"Mochi, come out for a moment."

At Qiu Nuoya’s call, Mochi, who had been quietly resting inside his robe, poked his head out.

[ What is it, Nuoya? ]

"Let me introduce you to Xiao Tao. He’s joining us starting today. Say hello."

[ Xiao Tao? My name is Mochi! And I’m actually a Slime King, you know. Hehe. ]

Mochi puffed out his chest proudly as he introduced himself. Xiao Tao stared at him in astonishment.

"A Slime King..."

"Did you hear Mochi’s voice just now?"

"Eh? Yes, I did."

"Then you might have the aptitude to become a Tamer too. It seems that we people from another world automatically have this world’s language translated for us. Ordinary people apparently can’t hear Mochi’s voice."

"I see."

Xiao Tao stared blankly at Mochi before smiling and gently patting him on the head.

"Nice to meet you."

[ Huh? This guy can hear my voice? I didn’t expect anyone other than Master to understand Dragon Language. ]

"Well, he’s also from another world."

[ Another world, huh... ]

Long said that while looking Xiao Tao up and down, but eventually seemed to lose interest and turned away.

"Um, did I do something to make him dislike me?"

"Ah, don’t worry. That’s just how Long normally is. By the way, Long was the one who carried you here in his mouth. He’s in his demi-human form right now, but his true form is a dragon."

"A dragon... You mean an actual dragon!? Like the ones you see in games and stuff!?"

"That’s right. The actual dragons everyone knows about."

This time, Xiao Tao stared intently at Long, making the dragon look rather uncomfortable.

"That’s so cool. You actually have a dragon as your tamed monster. Maybe you’re the real Hero, Nuoya!"

"Haha, no way. Also, just call me Nuoya."

As they chatted about such trivial things, dinner preparations continued. By the time the delicious aroma began spreading through the air, Xiao Tao’s stomach was growling nonstop.

"Xiao Tao, you must be really hungry."

"Of course I am! I haven’t had a proper meal in two weeks!"

Feeling sorry for making him wait any longer, Qiu Nuoya took some dried fruit he kept on hand and handed it to Xiao Tao as a snack.

"It’ll take a little longer for the stew to finish cooking, so eat that for now and wait."

Xiao Tao obediently accepted the bag of dried fruit. He cautiously tried a bite first, and once he realized how delicious it was, he began popping piece after piece into his mouth.

"That’s a snack, so don’t eat too much. You’ll spoil your appetite for dinner!"

"I know, Mom... uh."

He must have said it without thinking. The moment the words slipped out, Xiao Tao’s face turned bright red, and Qiu Nuoya could not help laughing.

It happens, right?

Even at school, students sometimes accidentally called their teachers "Mom" and got laughed at for it.