Auditor Mahiru Saeki arrived at the village five minutes ahead of schedule.
Stepping out of the black official vehicle, she paired a slim suit with easy-to-walk-in shoes. Her hair was tied back, and behind her silver-rimmed glasses, her eyes viewed the muddy mountain paths and the villagers’ gazes with the exact same temperature.
Cold, or rather, lacking any waste.
That was the impression she gave.
“I am Mahiru Saeki from the Dungeon Agency Audit Division.”
In front of the village mayor’s house, Saeki presented her business card.
“We will conduct an on-site confirmation regarding the unregistered dungeonization around the former abandoned mine, combat actions during the rescue, companion organisms suspected of being unregistered high-ranking entities, and the returnee registration status of Yuma Kamishiro.”
Listening only to the words, the content is heavy on the stomach.
Both the village mayor and Riko standing beside him braced themselves slightly.
I accepted the business card and bowed my head.
“I am Yuma Kamishiro. Nice to meet you.”
“I have confirmed the video. I will check the facts, not your claims. Is that fine?”
“Yes.”
Saeki’s gaze shifted to my feet.
Mikoto was sitting there.
He made his white fur shine in the morning sun and neatly wrapped his tail around his front paws. He was acting strangely more well-behaved than usual.
“That entity is Mikoto.”
“Yes.”
“Is the breeding registration done?”
“As a cat, no.”
“As a cat?”
“When I picked him up, he looked like an injured white cat. Even now, he is mostly a cat.”
“Meow.”
Mikoto meowed.
Without changing her expression, Saeki input something into her terminal.
“Possibility of speech capability.”
“That was just a meow.”
“Does the meaning get across to Mr. Kamishiro?”
“Mostly.”
“Then, I will treat him as a companion entity capable of communication.”
Mikoto moved his ears in dissatisfaction.
“I am no companion. I am the supervisor.”
Saeki’s fingers stopped.
Riko gave a small cough.
“Is the current statement recorded?”
“Naturally.”
Saeki said it apathetically.
Mikoto had an expression that seemed to say he messed up.
The audit began with the abandoned mine.
Saeki checked the rope at the entrance, the temporary fence the village had set up yesterday, and the off-limits sign. The speed at which she compared the video with the site by checking the positions of footprints left in the ground, bloodstains of the ore-fang wolves, and the state of the collapse traces was fast.
I did not say anything unnecessary.
I only answered what was asked.
“At the point you confirmed the ore-fang wolves, why did you enter before contacting the administration?”
“Because there was a child inside.”
“Rescue priority judgment.”
“Yes.”
“Were you aware that the stream was continuing?”
“I noticed midway. But getting Sota outside came first before stopping it.”
“That is reasonable.”
She said it with unexpected casualness.
Saeki pointed a measuring instrument toward the tunnel entrance. The magic level numbers lined up on the small screen.
“Higher than yesterday.”
“Can you tell?”
“I am looking at the numbers.”
“I use my sense of smell.”
Saeki looked at me.
“You identify magic through your sense of smell?”
“In the other world, I could not make ingredients unless I did that.”
“Ingredients.”
She repeated only that word.
She was not blaming me. Her voice sounded uncertain of how to classify it.
We did not enter the tunnel.
Today was just for on-site confirmation, and internal investigations would wait until a specialized unit arrived. Saeki had decided that.
I had no objections either.
On the way back from the abandoned mine, Sota’s mother bowed deeply in front of her house.
“Thank you very much for yesterday.”
She bowed not just to me, but to Saeki as well.
“If Kamishiro-san had not been there, my son would not have survived. Mikoto-chan protected him too.”
Without breaking her expression, Saeki simply listened carefully.
“I will confirm the situation during the rescue. Please do so within a comfortable range.”
The questioning was short.
However, Sota’s mother’s voice was trembling.
The relief that her son had returned and the fear that still remained. Both bled through the edges of her words.
Saeki pushed up her glasses once at the end.
“Confirmed. Thank you for your cooperation.”
When we returned to the village mayor’s house, it was past noon.
Since the villagers had gathered anxiously, I returned to the shed kitchen and put the pot on the fire.
“We are in the middle of an audit.”
Saeki said.
“It is noon.”
“Is there a necessity for cooking?”
“The villagers are unsettled. Having something warm makes it a bit easier to talk.”
“There is rationality to it.”
Permission seemed to have been granted.
Today, I would use the ore-fang wolf tendon meat.
For the specimen slaughtered yesterday, I processed the parts usable as materials and sealed the dangerous areas in the presence of the village mayor. The area near the magic core is not poison, but the magic level is dense. Boiling it carelessly creates an odor, and the bodies of the humans who eat it become heavy.
I cut the tendon meat thinly and placed it in water over the heat.
The first batch of water is discarded.
I judge the timing before blood and gray foam float to the surface, and change the water. Next, ginger, the green parts of scallions, and a little village miso. At the point where the aroma begins to rise, I search for the flow of magic with my fingertips.
The cold, iron-like sensation remaining deep in the meat.
Without applying too much heat to it, yet without leaving too much behind.
I placed a finger on the rim of the pot and slowly extracted the flow.
“What did you just do?”
Saeki’s voice flew over.
“I extracted the magic.”
“With your hands?”
“Yes.”
“As a cooking procedure?”
“As a cooking procedure, yes.”
Saeki pointed her measuring instrument at the pot.
The numbers went down.
For the first time, her eyebrows moved slightly.
“That is a process normally done at a slaughterhouse purification facility.”
“Since there is no facility.”
“Because there is no facility, you substituted with your hands?”
“Yes.”
“Is there danger?”
“There is. People who are not used to it should not do it.”
“You are used to it.”
“Because I spent three years in a place like that.”
The scent rising from the pot changed.
The iron-like beastly odor faded, and the aroma of miso and ginger came to the front. The tendon meat is still hard, but it should become tender once simmered.
The village grandmother brought daikon radish from the side.
“Yuma-kun, are you putting this in?”
“That helps. Please cut it thick.”
“Got it.”
Saeki was watching that exchange.
“How do you judge involving the villagers in the cooking process from a safety management standpoint?”
Riko had a chilling expression for a second.
I put down the kitchen knife and answered.
“I handle the processing of dangerous parts. The villagers handle washing, cutting, and lining up bowls. What is safe to touch and what is not are separated by differently colored tags.”
On the wall of the shed hung the tags Riko and I made yesterday.
Red means do not touch.
Yellow means check first.
Green means you may help.
Simple, but easy to understand for the villagers.
Saeki looked at that and entered something into her terminal again.
“Not bad for makeshift.”
“Did she praise us?”
Riko whispered.
“Probably.”
I replied in a whisper too.
Before long, the tendon meat began to crumble softly.
The daikon radish was dyed an amber color, and putting chopsticks into it released steam containing the broth. The sweetness of the miso, the spiciness of the ginger, and the rich umami of the ore-fang wolf meat. Because the scum was carefully removed, the aftertaste is not heavy.
I distributed it to the villagers in small bowls.
Sota’s mother, the clinic doctor, and the village mayor all ate the first bite in silence.
And then, they let out slow breaths.
“Ah.”
“It warms the body.”
“Power had been stuck in my shoulders since yesterday, but it loosened a bit.”
Hearing those voices, I felt a little relieved too.
I did not offer a bowl to Saeki.
I thought it might not be good to receive food from the target person during an audit.
However, Saeki stopped in front of the pot.
“Mr. Kamishiro.”
“Yes.”
“As a specimen, I request a small serving.”
“A specimen.”
“It is to confirm abnormalities through the sense of taste.”
“A taste test, you mean.”
“It is specimen confirmation.”
Riko turned to the side and held back her laughter.
I placed a piece of tendon meat and a piece of daikon radish into a small bowl.
Saeki first checked the scent, then applied the measuring instrument, and finally picked up her chopsticks.
One bite.
Her expression did not change.
However, her chopsticks did not stop.
The second bite, the third bite.
After eating the daikon radish containing the miso, she finally placed the bowl down.
“Magic residue is below standard value. Processing is appropriate. Taste is also good.”
“Taste.”
“It is a necessary expression in audit records.”
Saeki pushed up her glasses.
“Mr. Kamishiro. When you belonged to Sword of Dawn, were you in charge of this processing?”
“Yes. Anything that became ingredients.”
“What about things other than ingredients?”
“Medicinal herbs, fibers used for bandages, poison removal, water purification. Within the range I could do.”
Saeki looked at the screen of her terminal.
“In the submission documents of Sword of Dawn, your role is listed as miscellaneous chores assistant.”
“Was it written that way?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it is not wrong. It was chores.”
“Calling the process you just witnessed a chore is inaccurate.”
At those words, the surrounding villagers fell silent.
Troubled by how to respond, I lowered the heat of the pot a little.
Inaccurate.
That is probably true.
However, I am bad at making my own work sound grand. Someone fights in the front, someone casts magic, someone heals. Beside them, I only watched the pot, washed wounds, and dried meat.
Even if that was necessary, it was not glamorous.
“I will confirm additionally.”
Saeki’s voice was quiet.
“In your reasons for dismissal, abandoning the rear guard during retreat, smuggling supplies, and unauthorized removal of dangerous materials are listed. Do you have any counter-evidence for these?”
“I do not have it on hand.”
“Were there video records at the time?”
“They should have cut off midway.”
“Why did they cut off?”
“I do not know.”
Saeki nodded.
“Understood. I will request the guild branch and Sword of Dawn to submit the originals.”
Riko gasped.
“Originals? Not the edited version that was already submitted?”
“Naturally. What we look at in an audit is the original.”
Saeki returned the bowl.
“Through today’s on-site confirmation, at least two points have become clear.”
“Two points.”
“The dungeonization of the former abandoned mine is progressing, and immediate closure and specialized investigation are required.”
She looked at me there.
“And, the skill evaluation of Yuma Kamishiro significantly deviates from current registered information.”
The village mayor let out a deep breath.
Riko was clenching her fists just a little.
I was looking at the daikon radish swaying inside the pot.
Evaluation.
It was not like I wanted to get something like that back.
However, if the child I saved yesterday can eat porridge today, that was enough.
Still, as long as incorrect records remain, someone else might use them to hurt people again.
That is probably something we should not leave alone.
Saeki’s terminal vibrated.
She looked at the screen and narrowed her eyes.
“There was a response from the Sword of Dawn side regarding the submission of the originals.”
“That is fast.”
“It is a refusal.”
The inside of the shed fell silent.
Without changing her expression, Saeki opened the additional application screen.
“Then, I will raise the audit authority by one level.”
That voice was neither cold nor hot.
It was simply the voice of a human stacking up facts.