“Hey, it’s you! Yeah, it was you!!!!”
“Uwaaaah! My solid body is turning into a liquid!!”
“I heard your desires! Last time you said you were scared and you’d adapt to the Glowing King Dragon to make a mint chocolate beam!”
“That’s true, but that wasn’t me!”
“Do you expect me to believe that!?”
“Kyyaaaah!! Save me!!”
Shia was furious, grabbing Hana by the collar.
To understand why Shia was suddenly mad at the Slime Empress Kim Hana, we need to rewind about an hour.
●●●●●
It had been a day since the Hunter Train, which had to make an emergency stop due to an attack from a group of Uranium Dragons, resumed its journey.
The Hunter Train was caught up in a new commotion.
When you think about it, it’s actually strange for thousands of hunters to gather in one place without any commotion happening.
The Hunter Train was a place where diverse personalities and tremendous egos of A to S-grade high-level hunters from around the world came together. And even those who weren’t hunters boarded the Hunter Train for political and personal reasons, making large and small disturbances inevitable.
Of course, minor disturbances don’t escalate that far…
“Hey!! Is this jerk using acceleration while playing blackjack?! Do you wanna die?”
“You didn’t even expose my hand with that acceleration, why are you losing it?!”
“What? You think you can just say anything?!”
“What’s the slowpoke gonna do about it! Hey, dealer! Did I cheat?”
“We have confirmed that you accelerated only your own thinking. There are no actions that could be considered cheating.”
“No, that’s unfair! Someone is sweating bullets playing blackjack…!”
“Well, if you don’t like it, you could also become a hunter with your acceleration ability.”
Minor arguments happening in the entertainment car weren’t even considered a disturbance.
Of course, what’s special about these minor arguments is that the people involved aren’t ordinary humans—they are average A-grade hunters who all have confidence in their strength. In other words, it meant that all the individuals around them were either A-grade hunters or above.
But that doesn’t mean they would fight to the death.
If several high-grade hunters caused a ruckus at such a gathering, drawing unwanted attention and getting into a real fight, regardless of victory or defeat, the reputation of the instigator would spread throughout the hunter community like the rough and sticky swing of a goblin knight’s mace. Since hunters ultimately rely on connections, money, fame, and reputation to survive, the difficulty level of life as a hunter would rise sharply.
“Koi, www you’re lower in contribution ranking than me, www.”
“Well, you must be a mountain goat to satisfy your self-esteem with this. How regrettable…”
“What the hell did you just say?!”
Of course, aside from these minor arguments, there had already been two battles due to the mutated slimes from the Blood Swamp and the Uranium Dragons’ attack.
This was actually quite mild.
“Agent! Why is our guild’s contribution only 0.23%?! Can’t you see our guys’ armor and equipment are all melted for standing at the front in the Blood Swamp!?”
“Are you raising an issue about contributions? Could you write down the guild name and the names of the participating hunters here? Also, if there’s any footage from the Hunter Assistant Drone that recorded the events, please submit it.”
“Here it is.”
The contribution made on the Hunter Train was both the honor of the hunter and an opportunity to enhance their reputation, so even those who generally were not greedy would endlessly dispute contributions on the Hunter Train, doing anything for their guild or party mates.
Thanks to this, the members of the Hunter Association operating committee had their heads almost exploding due to the complaints from the hunters raising issues, but isn’t that how public servants always are?
On the scene, the hunters directly engage and fight monsters while the agents from the Hunter Association deal with paperwork and complaints at their desks.
It’s an ideal and wonderful collaboration.
Of course, some might want to scream due to the flood of work and the ridiculous amount of paperwork, but anyway, this was too small of a matter to be categorized as a ‘disturbance’.
“So, I’ve done everything I could for the budget allocation of the delegation guild.”
“Oh dear, that’s troubling, sir. I respect you a lot, but what do you think will happen if our support for the overseas delegation guild isn’t even half of this year’s budget? I know your generous heart very well, but I’m worried the less savory types might misinterpret it.”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“Of course not. We’re just presenting you with a wide range of options.”
On the other side, all sorts of muddy and dirty political battles were simultaneously being fought.
Yeonhwa, the S-grade hunter representing Korea aboard the Hunter Train, was deeply entangled in the hunter political scene of various countries and could not easily extricate herself from this mud pit.
Eventually hunters and politics were inseparable, so it was natural that politicians boarded the Hunter Train, and the influence of various governments fed into it.
Still, in the end, this didn’t fall under the category of a disturbance.
Desk discussions never turn into physical manifestations, after all.
However, a true disturbance was brewing.
One that couldn’t be hidden or downplayed, and would be a huge problem for the operation of the Hunter Train…
A disturbance that could greatly impact hunters’ lives and future operations.
○○○○○
“I’m sorry, Hunter Isia. It’s no longer possible to distribute food in batches of 100 like before.”
“What did you say?”
At the shocking news, Shia’s time momentarily froze.
Like any other day, she had planned to receive a portion of food for herself and her party members from the food car and was bubbling with anticipation.
The meals offered from the dining car, aside from their high prices, were quite delicious, and the food being distributed was high-quality too.
Since Shia usually had more money than she needed, she never had any issues with food expenses.
Furthermore, having defeated the boss slime at the Blood Swamp to secure the highest contribution, she believed she wouldn’t have to worry about meals during her time on the Hunter Train.
But suddenly, they’re saying food distribution is impossible.
Problems arose from an unexpected direction, and Shia’s once strong mental state began to crumble.
“Why, why…? Why is this happening…?”
She gazed at the agent before her with a dazed expression.
Yet the agent gulped in fear at the overwhelming pressure emanating from Shia’s gaze.
No matter how beautiful and saintly her face was, when Shia, who single-handedly defeated a boss monster in the Blood Swamp, stared at the agent with piercing intensity, he couldn’t help but feel nervous.
“Well, um…”
“Ahaha. I must have misheard. There’s no way I heard that right… Hey, agent, it seems my hearing has issues. Could you repeat what you just said?”
“…Cough, it seems that food distribution will be difficult moving forward.”
“……….”
Thump.
Shia collapsed as if she had received a death sentence upon hearing the agent in charge of the food car.
“Why…? Why…?”
Her large golden eyes were brimming with tears, making the agent feel like he had committed a great sin without realizing it.
Even the hunters passing through the central corridor of the train were staring in disbelief.
“Oh my, look at that agent. What on earth did he do…?”
“How could he make such an innocent and benevolent lady cry?”
“Wow, are there still cases of Hunter Association agents acting high-handedly these days?”
“It seems to be the food car, but how petty to fuss over just dinner…”
‘No, why are they treating me like this…!’
The agent in charge of managing the food car must have been feeling utterly wronged, but he had no choice but to maintain his composure and report the facts as they were.
“Soon, we’ll announce this to the hunters as well… A considerable portion of the food in the food car has been damaged.”
“Damaged…?”
“To be precise, all the food stored in the food car has become contaminated.”
The dining car.
As previously explained, the Hunter Train consisted of seven cars dedicated to food.
Each food car was about the size of a small to medium building. Out of those seven, four were dining cars, and the remaining three were food storage cars.
With countless humans and hunters aboard, the food cars held a vast amount of supplies.
In other words, if something went wrong with the food storage car, it would lead to issues affecting the entire Hunter Train.
Politics? Money? Contribution?
Those are all important, but the most important thing is food for humans.
Hunters can’t fight if they can’t eat, and without food, they become even more vulnerable to the monsters and evil mechanisms lurking in dungeons.
Of course food is crucial.
However, the issue of food and provisions was a far more serious matter for Isia, the fairy of meat… no, the Mangja Seongnyeo.
“What the hell, why?! No, you said all the food from the Uranium Dragons’ attack has been recovered!?”
“That’s correct… In fact, we didn’t detect any anomalies in the food storage car until yesterday. But…”
“But…?”
“There were remains of Uranium Dragons in the food car.”
“…….”
The Uranium Dragon.
It’s not an S-grade monster due to speed or power, but because of the radiation imbued from its draconic mana.
Since an unpurified dragon corpse was sitting between the food cars, the organic food had been rapidly eroded by the radiation.
In simpler terms, this meant that the food car responsible for supplying meals for everyone on board the Hunter Train had been completely ruined.
“…Then, won’t you be getting supplies soon?!”
Naturally, the Hunter Train would stop at major cities for resupplies and repairs while moving between countries, or even continents.
“Yes, but under normal circumstances, the Hunter Train was supposed to resupply in China, which is closest to us. However…”
“Why again!?”
“China is not participating in this Hunter Train journey, so it will head to Eurasia via Russia instead. However, the planned resupply route for Eurasia has Novosibirsk as the first supply city.”
“Novosibirsk?”
“Yes, it’s about 10,483 km away by distance…”
“How long will it take?!”
As Shia’s hands began to tremble as if she had just received news that she could no longer have any drugs, the agent let out a deep sigh in his mind.
“Since we have to tackle designated dungeons on the way… The minimum would be around a week…”
“A week?!”
A week without a proper meal?
The last thing she ate was the mint chocolate-flavored jerky from the Glowing Dinosaur, and now those mint chocolate creatures had contaminated the food too?
“I’m sorry, Hunter Isia. It would be best to endure with the basic rations distributed to each of you for the time being.”
“Ah, ah…”
“It’s all right, though. We still have basic ration supplies left, so you don’t have to worry about starving… Isia, Hunter?”
Shia, barely managing to pull herself together, could only return to her quarters with the transport drone she had brought along for the rations, feeling utterly drained.
●●●●
So, upon receiving the news that she could no longer receive delicious meat and food rations, Shia turned her anger towards Kim Hana, the Slime Empress, who was diligently crafting [Mint Chocolate Omega Beam] all by herself.
Purification beam?
She had tried using it on the contaminated food stored in the food car, but since it had already rotted after lying there for a night, even purification only yielded crumbled powder.
Shia craved juicy, succulent meat. She didn’t want something that looked like clean, crumbled dust!
“Now that this has happened, I’m going to eat you!”
“Uwaaaaah! I haven’t made the mint beam yet!”
–Hiiik… Is she coming for me next!? Kuuuu! It’s all over! I’m going to be devoured by the fearsome Mangja Seongnyeo!
Of course, in her heart, Shia knew this was an unreasonable rage.
But after taking her meat away from her, the fairy of meat had no reason left to find rationality.
“…Kkiik. Yoonjeong mama… shut it…”
“Right, that’s it. Hey, you toxic gas! You woke Yane up!”
“Hiing…”
Under Yoonjeong’s words, Shia ultimately loosened her grip on Hana and weakly collapsed onto her bed.
“What’s up with her again?”
“…I never thought Shia would be so disappointed and angry… This doesn’t feel like what a hero is supposed to do. I can’t do anything at such an important moment… I’m a disqualified hero…!”
“Oh wow, both of you are just complaining.”
Leaning back lazily and watching holographic TV, Teresa seemed unimpressed by the now-familiar nonsensical daily life.
“Then the dining car functioning will stop, huh? Haha. Our pig saint is going to starve and lose weight?”
“Huuaaaang! Menelapie, Teresa’s mocking me!!!”
“Teresa Kaitlyn!! How dare you not comfort Shia when she’s distressed…!”
“Ah, yeah, sorry.”
Teresa swatted her hand dismissively, not actually feeling sorry at all.
She knew all too well that turning to look would only pile more nonsense on nonsense given her previous experiences.
“If the dining car isn’t running, doesn’t that mean we have to cook our own meals in every dungeon?”
“Come to think of it, that’s right? Other hunters must not be receiving rations either…”
“Oh! I got it, mom!”
“What is it?”
Yoonjeong mumbled, and Shia’s expression brightened as if she had just thought of something good.
“Let’s open a restaurant!”
“…What the hell are you talking about?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Hehe, I got it now.”
“Hey, you idiot hero! Don’t just say you understand, ask me the reason!”
“I mean, listen to me. I’m being serious here too?”
The others, excluding Menelapie, seemed to find it hard to adjust to the rapid fluctuations in Shia’s emotions, but Shia appeared to genuinely cheer up in those few seconds.
“Actually, if the food distribution has stopped, it’s a problem for us, but it’s a problem for other hunters too, right?”
“That would be the case.”
“Then, in the future, hunters will have to rely on the disgusting ration cans that are either what they bring from home or the tasteless emergency kits they’re issued, right?!”
“You’ll probably ask for all the tasteless cans for yourself anyway.”
“That may be true, but anyway, the Hunter Train will be running while the dungeons will have to operate. And the supply city won’t come for a week! So, will the hunters survive without eating delicious food during that time?!”
“So that’s why you’re going to open a restaurant?”
“Yes! We’ll go into dungeons, catch lots of delicious goodies, then cook up a storm!”
“……”
Just from hearing it, it sounded quite wonderful.
Shia had plenty of cooking ingredients, seasonings, and tools, and they were all in bulk.
The conditions would be different depending on the dungeon, but if she could just find suitable meat to cook, they could have a good chance at it.
The biggest problem, however, lay in Shia’s catastrophic and erratic cooking skills.
“Ah, well, go for it.”
“Hey, Teresa! A saint is in distress, shouldn’t a witch do something about it!”
“…….”
With a look of utter distaste, Teresa was reluctant, but when she glanced behind her, she saw Shia had a firm belief that Teresa would help her without a doubt.
Sigh, it’s obvious she’ll start crying again if I refuse…
“Alright, I got it. I’ll help you…”
“Really!?”
“Thank goodness, Shia.”
“Hehe, mom will help too, right?”
“Well, I won’t be bored.”
By the way, Shia didn’t even ask Yane, the Mermaid Princess, Elder Mandragora, or Kim Hana for their opinions.
After all, in regards to her subordinates, free will doesn’t exist!
“…..If I make food, I’ll shoot a mint beam at you…”
–Pweeeing! It’s the end! I’m going to be boiled alive in steaming broth and bathe in fragrant spices! It’s over now! Kuuuu!
“…Kkiie… Kool…”
