Chapter 39: His Origins and a Banquet

We had been brought to Rex’s hometown by an old man named Kario.

It hadn’t looked like an ordinary village the first time we had set our eyes on it, and that hadn’t changed at all.

“This is Rex’s house.”

But Rex’s house, where we had been brought to, looked like a normal house.

It looked so ordinary, you’d never think it was the house of Rex.

“Hey Lyde, you there?”

Kario said, banging on the door, which was then opened a little.

“What is it, Kario?”

Said a good-natured-looking old man, stepping outside.

Is he Rex’s dad?

“They know Rex, so I brought them here.”

“They know Rex?”

Lyde looked over at us.

“Apparently they came here after getting the suggestion to do so from Rex.”

“That’s not something you see everyday.
What did you come here for?”

“U-umm, I’m Mina! They’re Jairo, Meguri, and Norb.”

“Erm, I’m Jairo.”

“Nice to meet you, I am Norb.”

Since they had all greeted Mr.
Lyde, I did the same.

“Meguri”

And now, a polite bow.

“How polite.
I’m Rex’s father, Lyde.”

“Erm… we got to know Rex in the town of Tougai, and had the good fortune to be taught a couple of things by him.”

“Hee, he did? Actually on second thought, I can believe he’d start acting like a teacher outside.”

It seemed like Rex really was non-standard then.

“However, he left for a different town a while ago, but he told us we could come here because there are magic textbooks here!”

Mina said nervously.

He’s Rex’s father, so I get it.

I’ll leave all this annoying negotiation to her.
Well, not like it’s my job in the first place.

“I see, so he said that.
Sure, I don’t mind.
Come on in.
Heeey, wifey, some friends of Rex’s are here.”

He believed us so easily.

Honestly, I’m a little worried about how much he let his guard down.

Or perhaps, he just has confidence in being able to deal with anything that might happen.

“I’ll be going then.”

Said Mr.
Kario, leaving.

“Um, thank you very much!”

“Thanks old man!”

“Thank you very much, sir.”

“Thank you.”

We all thanked him as he walked away, waving to us without turning around.

♦ ♦

“It’s a bit small, but please do come in.”

Lyde said, gesturing for us to sit down in chairs that had been put out for us.

“Do have some tea.”

Rex’s mother gave us tea.

This village was unexpectedly wealthy, what with having tea and everything.

“T-thank you very much.”

Everyone thanked her and took sips of the tea.

“…! It’s delicious!?”

And Mina was right in saying that.

The tea Rex’s mother had given to us was very delicious indeed.

It was my first time drinking such delicious tea – well, it was my first time drinking any tea, but whatever.

“We didn’t have much of anything to drink back in the old days, but nowadays we can use these leaves Rex brought here to make very delicious tea.”

Rex was amazing, not only was he good at magic and swordsmanship, he could even find good tea.

“He said something about using herbs used for high potions.”

““““Pffffffff!?!?””””

“H-high Potions!? Like, High Potion High Potions!?”

As our magic user, Mina was reeling from shock.

I felt the same, really.

High Potions were high-quality consumables every adventurer wanted to get their hands on.

One of them cost five gold coins, meaning they could only be afforded by high-rank adventurers.

“Seems so.
According to him they were ingredients for a slightly good potion.”

“It’s not just slightly good.
Not at all.”

Mina said, muttering to herself.

As a magic user, she probably understood the value of such ingredients better than we did.

“So anyway, is he doing well?”

“Yes, he almost had too much energy when we were with him.
And he saved us once when we were in trouble.”

Norb answered in the stead of Mina, who had temporarily become unable to respond out of shock.

“Tha’s right! Rex’s amaaaazing! He can defeat mountain-like monsters in the blink of an eye, and he taught us magic!”

“Hahaha, right, right.”

“It seems like he’s having fun.
I think he found it a little too stifling here.”

Rex’s mum and dad listened happily to Jairo talking about Rex.

As they talked like that, they completely looked like ordinary people.

“And then he became B-Rank in the blink of an eye and went off to a Danger Zone!”

“Are B-Ranks strong?”

“Yes.
Normally, it would take even a talented person years to become B-Rank.”

“Oh really.”

“I’m happy to hear he’s doing well.”

They really look like ordinary people.

But then, how did Rex become such an amazingly strong person…?

“Umm…”

Right when I was about to ask them ‘How did you raise Rex?’

“Rex’s friends are here I hear!”

The door opened all of a sudden, and an unfamiliar old man entered the room.

He wasn’t the old man we had met at the village gates.

“Village chief, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Ooh, so the youngsters over there are Rex’s friends.
Welcome welcome!”

The old man who was apparently the village chief said, patting us all on the shoulders.

That hurt a little.

“We have guests! We shall have a feast! Let’s all gather in the village square and drink!”

I don’t really get it, but I think we’re being welcomed with open arms?

♦ ♦

“Everyone! Let us welcome Rex’s friends!”

““““Woooooo!!””””

Having been taken to the village square by the village chief, we were now taking part in our own welcome party.

“Come on come on, do eat! Our beef’s delicious!”

“Hey, the eggs our Coco lays are delicious too! Here, have some!”

“Hey hey, what would a banquet be without alcohol! It’s homemade too!”

“““It only became this delicious thanks to Rex, after all!”””

The people offering us food or cider all talked about Rex this and Rex that.

“Rex-san also knows about raising livestock or how to make beer!?”

“Well, it’s not that he knows everything.
It’s just that whatever he gets his hands on turns into something ridiculous!”

“Yeah, the eggs laid in my chicken coop have been delicious ever since Rex brought down Coco from the mountains.”

Those eggs are so big that you can only carry them one at a time though.

“Umm, is that really a chicken’s egg?”

“Hm? Oh, no, Rex said something about a Phoenix.”

“A Phoe-!?”

Hang on a second, isn’t that that legendary undying bird!?

“By Phoenix, do you mean that flame bird!?”

“Flame? Riiight, now that I think of it, it did look red-hot when Rex brought it over, but he gave me a few tips on how to keep it properly and its feathers turned the normal white.”

That was definitely some special technique!?

“Does your beef come from some special type of cow by any chance?”

“Ah, he called them Crazy Bafs I think.
He said he’d cut their horns off ‘cause they’d attack me otherwise due to being rather wild.”

“Aren’t Crazy Bafs B-Rank monsters?”

Mina-san said while shaking slightly as she looked at the skewer with Crazy Baf meat on it.

“Hey, you lot, this is really delicious! Come on ‘n eat already!”

Jairo-san on the other hand tucked into the Crazy Baf meat completely unfazed, moving onto a Phoenix egg omelet right after.

“This cider’s delicious!”

Perhaps having given up thinking about it, Meguri-san was enjoying some of the cider that had been recommended to us.

“Right you are! I used these sparkly apples called Jewelled Apples to make it!”

“Jewelled Apples –––– !?”

Uwaa!? I’ve never seen Meguri-san shout out loud in surprise!?

“Meguri-san, are Jewelled Apples really that amazing?”

“Notonlyaretheyamazingthey’relikemythicalfruits.
Theyhaveajewel-likesurfaceandarevaluedextremelyhighlybyconnoisseurs.
They’retradedforhugeamountsofmoneyontheblackmarket.
Eventheirtrees’locationsarestrictlyguardedsecretssomostpeopledon’tevenknowwheretofindthem.”

Amazing, I’ve never seen Meguri-san speak so fast, nor so much!?

“Rex said he found one growing in the mountains so he brought the whole thing home and gave it to us to grow.
It produces beautiful fruits every year.”

“A tree!? They actually exist!?”

Meguri-san asked incredibly enthusiastically.

They really are valuable, huh…

“Oh, you’re interested in the apples? Why don’t you come have a look at them later?”

“Absolutely!”

It seemed like Meguri-san’s head was filled with Jewelled Apples already.

“Heey, we’ve brought back some new game!”

Some children said, bringing over more food.

How impressive of them to be helping out their parents.

“Hehhee, we hunted this!”

“You hunted it!?”

They’re still little children but they’re already going hunting with the actual hunters!?

I see, so the reason Rex-san is so strong while still being so young is because he was made to train ever since he was little.

“Land Dragons’ meat is really tasty you know.”

…? I feel like I just heard the name of a C-Rank monster just now?

“Erm? Did you just say the meat was from a Land Dragon?”

“Yeah! It’s really tasty!”

Land Dragons were large, lizard-type, C-Rank monsters, ridiculed as baby Dragons despite their size.

While not as much as actual Dragons or Wyverns, they were still fast thanks to their size, and their fangs and claws were sharp and their scales hard.
They moved by crawling on the ground, and they were considered annoying enemies due to being hard-to-attack-with-a-sword.

And these children killed one of those…

“By the way, how did you kill it?”

“Well you see, Saak stopped it from moving with magic, and then me and Ryute attacked its head and tail.
The tail’s really delicious you know!”

“…Is that so.”

They talked about killing a C-Rank monster as if it were nothing, more interested in the taste of the tail.

“…Yep, this really is Rex-san’s hometown all right.”

I had nothing else to say.

Oh right, the Land Dragon’s tail was indeed very delicious.