Although the library had been absolutely no help to Subaru, he had at least cleared one floor’s trial.
According to Shaula, as long as he continued and cleared the next trial—from the second floor to the first floor—he would finally be able to leave this place.
A beautiful otherworld life was waiting for him outside.
He would no longer have to eat roasted mabeast meat, and he would no longer have to stay bored out of his mind inside this tower.
Well, since he did have a beautiful girl keeping him company, it was not that boring.
After all, Shaula’s personality was surprisingly compatible with his.
Whether it was her acting silly or Subaru retorting at her, the back and forth banter between them had become something he was starting to get used to.
“Mm, let’s break through to the next floor in one go!”
With that mood, Subaru planned to keep charging forward.
And then, he realized something.
“Where are the stairs to the second floor?
Shaula, do you know?”
“Reporting to Master!
Shaula does not know!”
“Yeah, I figured…”
After all, she had never even been to the third floor before.
How could she possibly know where the stairs to the next floor were?
Subaru immediately searched the third floor carefully for a long time, but he still could not find where the next staircase was.
Once again, he felt the enormous malice of the person who designed this place.
The guy who built this tower was definitely someone with an incredibly twisted sense of humor.
“My stomach’s getting a little hungry… Let’s head back for now, Shaula.”
“Yes, Master!
What are we eating today?
Great Worm?
Courtesan Bear ?
That flame horse is fine too!”
“Uegh… No, don’t say it out loud.
Just hearing you talk about them makes me want to puke.”
Even now, Subaru was completely unable to endure the disgusting feeling of eating those mabeasts.
The two of them returned to the fourth floor.
As usual, Shaula would patrol the area.
On the fourth floor, there was a hidden room Subaru had accidentally discovered during this period.
It was a balcony that overlooked the sea of sand, and it was from there that Shaula shot down every living thing that approached.
Naturally, that included mabeasts.
Great Worms, Courtesan Bear , and even the centaur like creature from before.
There were many kinds of mabeasts, but most of them had strange shapes and did not look like things that could be eaten at all.
After Shaula shot them down, she would go outside and carry them back.
After all, if Subaru went outside, he would violate the tower’s rules.
Meanwhile, in the Green Room, Subaru had taken the chance to plant some vegetables.
The organs of mabeasts did contain necessary vitamins, true, but they lacked dietary fiber and vitamin C.
That meant green vegetables were also important.
Subaru skillfully processed the mabeast corpse.
The knife he used had been made by Shaula at his request.
It was made from obsidian and was extremely sharp, able to easily cut through mabeast hide and fur.
There were no seasonings here, and there were no spices either.
If he wanted to cook, he could only use the most primitive method: roasting.
Occasionally, he even had to go underground and borrow a little fire from another centaur mabeast.
“But really, it’s all thanks to Shaula.
If not for her, just trying to survive here would be incredibly difficult…”
Subaru thought that while making lunch.
Without Shaula’s help, food would have been his biggest problem.
At that point, even if he could use Return by Death, he would only end up repeatedly facing death by starvation.
And that was not all.
She had also saved his life back in the underground palace.
If she had not arrived in time, who knew how many more times he would have died at the hands of that centaur?
“I should find a proper time to thank her… Though with that personality of hers, even if I thanked her, I doubt she’d really listen seriously.”
“Mm!
Shaula smelled something delicious and came over!
Master, is it ready yet?!”
“Gwah?!”
Startled by Shaula’s sudden appearance, Subaru almost lost his grip on the knife in his hand.
“Don’t silently sneak up on me without making a sound!”
“Because, because Master said I had to use less force if I wanted to hug you tightly~”
“I absolutely never said the second half of that.”
“Hehe.
Let’s just pretend you did.”
Subaru had just been about to thank her, but her sudden appearance threw his mood off completely.
His feelings were a little complicated.
He did not know why Shaula was so certain that he was her master.
He had no memory of anything like that.
And Shaula’s way of recognizing people was not by face.
It was by smell.
Perhaps his smell just happened to be the same as her master’s.
If that was the case, then everything he was taking for granted right now was an illusion.
None of it should have belonged to him.
That made Subaru feel a little guilty.
“All right, go sit in the next room.
Since I’m relying on you for hunting, then making this stuff edible will definitely be my job.”
“Yes!
Master’s order shall absolutely be obeyed!”
After hearing that, Shaula happily skipped over to the next room.
“Ah… Seriously, why am I thinking so much?
I’m going to leave this place sooner or later.
Subaru looked at Shaula’s departing back, then finally shook his head.
“If she refuses to leave when that time comes… then I’ll search the whole world until I find that bastard of a master.
Leaving such a cute apprentice in a place like this for four hundred years… That can be my repayment for her saving my life.”
Subaru roasted the mabeast flesh.
Once he felt it was cooked enough, he used small branches to skewer the meat together.
“Ta-da!
Natsuki Subaru’s special dish!
Otherworld mabeast barbecue, now making its entrance!”
Subaru carried the roasted meat into the next room and announced it to Shaula, who was already sitting at the table and drooling.
Shaula paid no attention to manners at all.
She began devouring the food in huge bites, as if she had been hungry for a very long time.
“Delicious!
Master, your cooking got even better!
Amazing!”
“No way.
It’s only been a few days.
Besides, I’m just roasting meat.
How can you even say my skills improved…”
Subaru also picked up a skewer and began eating.
“Delicious…”
Only then did Subaru notice it.
It really did taste good.
When did my cooking get this good?
Besides, without any seasoning, there should be very little room for technique to make a difference, right?
“This is really strange… Don’t tell me I actually have talent as a chef?”
Subaru scratched his cheek.
But even he felt that sounded a little far fetched.
He had never seriously learned cooking, and back home, he was a shut-in who left all the housework to his mother.
“Forget it.
Don’t worry about all that, Master.
Hurry up and eat.
You need to fill your stomach before you’ll have the energy to think about anything else!”
“I’m not like you, you know.
My head isn’t filled with nothing but eating.”
“There’s nothing wrong with eating.
Eating is very important.
Eating Master’s cooking is the most important!”
Seeing her like that, Subaru decided not to think too much and focused on eating first.
After all, he needed to fill his stomach before he would have the energy to continue challenging the next trial.
The only problem was that, even now, he had not found the stairs leading to the next floor.
“The road ahead is long…”
Subaru sighed inwardly.