Chương 73: I Know the Ingredients

After they finished the spicy fish stew, the valley became strangely quiet. This was the same place where a dragon and a human had just fought until one had a nosebleed and the other a black eye. Broken scars remained on the cliff, and marks from where Kichan had rolled ran along the bank. Yet all that remained now were a gigantic stone bowl, fish bones, and the smell of red herbs. Kichan rose with one hand over his swollen eye.

"We're done eating. Let's go." Riphiel relaxed at those words. At last, they could leave the valley. The saber-toothed tiger quietly stood, and Valkyrie returned to Kichan's sleeve. Dust was still searching the ground for any dragon scales that might have fallen. Kichan looked at Dust.

"There aren't any." Dust twitched a leg one more time in disappointment. Argaon asked,"Where are you going?" Kichan packed his things as he answered.

"Don't know. Somewhere with lots of food?" Argaon's eyes narrowed.

"That, I know well." Kichan answered without much interest.

"You do?" Argaon spoke matter-of-factly.

"There isn't an ingredient in this world I don't know." Kichan's hands stopped. Riphiel froze. Argaon saw Kichan's reaction and smiled.

"Mushrooms that hold heat beyond the mountains. Transparent shrimp beneath a frozen lake. Leaves that taste like meat when dried. Black roots that turn sweet over flame. Salt flowers that grow between streams of lava." Kichan turned around completely.

"You can eat all of those?"

"By your standards, most of them."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Most of them." Kichan thought for a moment.

"Sounds fine." Riphiel spoke quietly.

"It does not." Argaon went deeper into the valley and returned with a small pouch. It looked like black leather and was only a little larger than his palm. A wave-like pattern had been carved around the opening, and a tiny scale fragment hung from the end of its cord. He tossed it to Kichan. Kichan caught it and shook it.

"What's this?"

"A magic bag. The space inside has been folded. Materials from the valley will not rot within it. It can easily hold water, meat, roots, herbs, rock salt, and hot seeds." Kichan peered inside. It was far deeper than it looked. The interior was dark and cool. His hand found no bottom when he reached inside, and no smell escaped. Meat, fish, and herbs could last a long time in there. Kichan pulled the opening wider.

"This is good." Riphiel's shoulders sagged. Argaon continued.

"Fill it with materials from the valley. In exchange, I have a condition." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Kichan kept looking inside as he asked,"What is it?"

"Take me with you." Riphiel stopped breathing at once. The saber-toothed tiger lifted its head. Valkyrie went boing at the end of Kichan's sleeve. Dust looked between the dragon and the bag, apparently judging which was more valuable. Kichan looked at Argaon.

"I thought you owned this valley."

"I have done so for a long time."

"Can you just leave?"

"The valley remains a valley without me." Riphiel spoke tearfully.

"No. The master of a valley leaving his domain is not an ordinary event." Argaon looked at her.

"Is it a greater event than the elves losing a fallen flower of the World Tree?" Riphiel shut her mouth. Kichan looked at Riphiel.

"You already caused a huge mess, didn't you?" Riphiel quietly bowed her head.

"Strictly speaking, it marked the beginning of a research journey."

"That is the huge mess." Argaon turned back to Kichan.

"I know materials. I know the roads. I can distinguish what is dangerous from what is delicious." Kichan said,"Riphiel told me she knew the roads too." Riphiel spoke quietly.

"I do." Argaon answered in the same calm tone.

"I have watched that elf cause trouble since she was a child." Kichan nodded immediately.

"I knew it." Riphiel protested.

"I merely observe the possibilities inherent in an incident—" Kichan and Argaon spoke at the same time.

"That is causing trouble." A brief silence followed. Kichan looked at Argaon.

"I think you just said something sensible." Argaon laughed. Kichan closed one hand around the magic bag. Valley materials, storage space, knowledge of ingredients, and a dragon who had invited him to try beating materials out of him if necessary. But Kichan did not agree immediately. He looked at Dust. Dust was not watching Argaon's human form. It stared at the empty air behind him—the height at which the gigantic horns of his true body had stood.

Even in the middle of the fight, Dust had kept its attention on Argaon's scales and horns. Kichan spoke to Argaon.

"Then I have one more condition." Argaon raised his head.

"Speak." Kichan said it as if it were obvious.

"Give me a little piece of your horn." Riphiel went rigid. So did Argaon, if only for a moment. Even the sound of the valley water seemed to stop. Kichan added,"Then I'll take you with us." Riphiel almost whispered.

"Did you just demand a piece of a dragon's horn as his traveling fee?" Kichan answered,"Just a little." Dust twitched a leg in agreement. Argaon touched his forehead. No horn was visible in human form, but the line of his mouth stiffened uncertainly.

"My horns are not ornaments."

"They're materials."

"They are not."

"You don't have anything else to use them for." Argaon stared at Kichan for a moment. This was the human who had just called him a warehouse of materials. He laughed low.

"A very small piece." Kichan replied immediately.

"If you're going to do it, make it a little bigger." Dust's legs twitched faster. Riphiel pressed a hand to her forehead. Her fingertips trembled slightly.

"Why does every step in this process become stranger than the last?" In the end, Argaon produced a small piece of black horn at his fingertips. It seemed less like something freshly cut and more like a fragment that had broken from the tip of his true horn long ago. It was black and hard, with fine water-blue grain running through its center. Kichan took it and smelled it first. Argaon said,"It is not food."

"If I eat this, will it make me live forever or… I'm joking."

"Do you truly know that?"

"Food smells different." Argaon fell silent for a moment. Kichan showed the horn fragment to Dust. Dust accepted it with two legs, then twitched them in satisfaction. Only then did Kichan nod.

"All right. Come with us." Argaon wore an expression that made it difficult to tell whether he had won or lost. There was still one more problem. Kichan asked,"You eat a lot, don't you?" Argaon answered proudly.

"I know just as much." Kichan considered that for a moment. Then he said,"You pay for your own food." Argaon nodded.

"I will pay in materials." Kichan opened the bag at once.

"Then start by putting in everything that grows around here." That night, the master of the valley went through his own valley, explaining and placing things into the magic bag one by one: rock salt, hot seeds, red herbs, rainbow fish scales, garlic-flavored roots, and even one bottle of strange black water. For the first time, Kichan nodded in complete satisfaction.

"Nice." Argaon nodded too. Riphiel alone did not. By dawn, Argaon stood beside Kichan in his reduced human form, dressed in black with wet hair. Kichan looked at him.

"You're going like that?" Argaon asked,"Is there a problem?"

"Of course. You look suspicious." Riphiel spoke quietly.

"The party itself already looks suspicious." Kichan pretended not to hear. Argaon smiled.

"Then I shall learn to look human." Kichan thought for a moment.

"Start by not stealing other people's food." Argaon nodded with complete seriousness.

"That will be difficult." Riphiel covered her face with both hands.