Chapter 5 : I’m going to Moonlight Wharf with the Hero Party

The great demon lord Purpure has a great plan.

Everyone has the experience of eating and chatting with friends!

I, who know nothing about how this world works, plan to cook for the hero and the saint, get information, and gradually corrupt them with their appetite to make them my subordinates.

Anyway, to do that, I have to cook for them…!

“I wonder if the hunter we met last time is doing well.

Saint.”

“Are you talking about the hunter with the long beard we met on the way to meet Purpure?”

“That’s right!

That guy!

He was carrying a deer on his back, wasn’t he?

He even advised us not to go any deeper because it was dangerous…

Ah!

I wish I had something to give him.”

“Since he’s a hunter, we might be able to meet him in Moonlit Pier if we’re lucky.”

I want to talk about eating, but the timing just isn’t right!

Honestly, it’s not like I’m walking on my own two legs, and I’m being carried in Maeve’s arms, so it’s a bit awkward to complain…

“Ah, come to think of it, we’ve been talking amongst ourselves too much.

Right?

Purpure?”

Are you suddenly involving me in the conversation now?!

“Was there anything interesting around the demon lord’s castle, Purpure?”

“Of course, there was.”

What do you think the demon lord is?

I guess I should brag a little.

“Wow…

What, what?

Tell me about it!

It must have been boring since we kept talking, right?”

“Purpure will tell you specially.

There’s a small pond near the demon lord’s castle.

There are a lot of square salt bugs there.”

“Uh….

Square…

Bugs?”

Maeve’s face turned slightly pale.

“It seems you’re talking about square salt bugs.”

“That’s right.

If you peel off the shell well and crush it into powder, it tastes salty.”

“Bu, but it’s a bug, right?

A bug?

You eat bugs?!”

“You can’t eat the body.

No matter how well you cook it, it’s so bland that it tastes like sand, so you can’t eat it.”

Maeve swallowed hard and shook her head.

“Tha, that means!

You’ve eaten it!

How can you eat bugs?!”

“The seasoning for the stew Maeve ate yesterday was made with desert salt bugs.”

“Whaaaaat?!

Tha, that powder wa, was a bug?!”

Maeve trembled and stuck out her tongue, groaning in pain.

“Considering the environment here, it must have been an unavoidable choice.”

The saint, Dominicus, unlike Maeve, didn’t make a fuss.

“Salt is always a precious seasoning.

In a place far from salt mines and salt farms, there’s no other way.”

“Ugh!

Still…

If I knew there were bugs in it, I wouldn’t have eaten it so deliciously yesterday.”

“But Sister Maeve ate it deliciously.”

“Tha, that’s…

Ugh, anyway!

I’m not going to eat bugs no matter how hungry I am!

I don’t have to eat them in the first place!”

Is she an idiot, this hero?

Is she a hero because she’s an idiot?

I think bugs are pretty good.

If you cook them properly or fry them, many of them are very crispy and savory.

“Anyway, enough with the bug talk.

Is there anything else?”

“Of course, there is.

Purpure also knows a hill where Potakes live together!”

Unlike right in front of the demon lord’s castle, I have to walk a bit, so I don’t go there often.

“Potake?

Ah…

That was delicious.”

“There are also a lot of root vegetables on that hill.

But you should never eat the purple ones.”

“Is there a reason why you shouldn’t?”

“They taste really strange.

If you cook them, they become mushy and hard to eat.”

Maeve chuckled.

“Saint!

Do you know what root vegetable Purpure is talking about now?”

“It doesn’t seem to be a poisonous plant.”

You could tell the difference?

You knew it was poisonous and still tried to cook it?!

“And then?

Is there anything else?”

“Of course, there is.

If you go to the lake before the morning sun rises, you can meet slimes.”

“Slimes?

Are you talking about those squishy guys?”

“That’s right.

Slimes are very kind.”

Maeve’s eyes wavered slightly.

Why?

“Why are slimes kind?”

“If Purpure asks them, they sometimes bring fruits or something edible.”

That’s how I was really lucky to get the meat of the instant death rabbit.

The sight of the squishy creatures putting leaves on their heads and bringing food on those leaves was cute no matter who saw it!

Especially sometimes, several of them march in a line, each carrying food on a leaf, like a small parade.

It felt like they were bringing offerings to the demon lord!

“If Purpure asks them, they listen?

The slimes?”

What, were you scared after all?

Huhu!

The demon lord starts with slimes!

You must be scared that I can properly control monsters!

You should be more surprised, though?

“That’s right.

If Purpure asks, the slimes work hard to get it!

Sometimes even the skeleton birds listen to my requests!”

“Ske, skeleton birds?

Are you talking about those completely creepy-looking birds?”

“That’s right!

Skeleton birds also listen to Purpure well!

Sometimes they drop edible fruits from the sky, and they also let me know when dangerous monsters are coming!”

Actually, they almost never listen, but what does the hero know!

Even the slimes are like playing a random gacha game, and I have to hit them with my palm to get them to bring something!

But I can lie and say they’re my subordinates, right?

“Uh…

Slimes and skeleton birds aren’t the end, are they?”

“Awawa…?”

“There are more friends, right?

I mean!

Slimes and skeleton birds are monsters, aren’t they?”

What, what is it?

Are slimes and skeleton birds not enough?

I think these are pretty awesome members, though!

“Purpure is…

Um, uuum…”

There’s nothing else around the demon lord’s castle.

There’s a group of instant death rabbits, but they’re not monsters.

There are squirrels too, but I’m not close to them.

“Uh…

Could it be, Purpure.

Did you live alone in the demon lord’s castle?

No, right?

It seemed a bit much to live there alone.”

“Purpure lived alone.”

Maeve suddenly smiled awkwardly and rolled her eyes to the side.

Hmph!

You must be scared after all!

That this small and soft demon child is already starting to show the appearance of a demon lord!

Later on, instead of holding me like this, you’ll have to give me a piggyback ride, you know?

…Ah, is a piggyback ride worse?

“Um…

Then~ shall we!

Talk about food?

Purpure seems to like cooking.

Right?

Right?”

Why are you asking me while poking my cheek!

I feel like you’re changing the subject urgently, but I should refrain from pointing it out since it benefits me.

“That’s right.

Purpure likes to cook.”

“Is there a reason or something?”

“The food here…

is not good…”

“Pfft!”

Maeve suddenly turned her head to the side and burst into laughter.

“It’s true!

Everyone here is a baka!

They cook really badly.”

I’ve felt it since I started my second life, but really, everyone is so uninterested in cooking.

They don’t put things in, they don’t season it, they say vegetables are dangerous so they don’t eat them!

They don’t even think about eating things that are slimy because they say it’s slimy, and they don’t use herbs either.

“
They’re really ridiculous fools.

“I know that too.

You’re talking about vegetables that you can eat if you put them in boiling water to remove the poison, right?

Unlike what the Goddess Church says, octopuses are edible!”

“How does Sister Maeve know that?”

“What do you mean, how.

I’m a hero, you know!

A long time ago, someone taught me how to eat delicious food properly!

They were like my teacher!”

Maeve smiled and looked at me.

As soon as I saw that smile, I couldn’t help but grab her cheeks and pinch them.

“Ow?!

Wha, what are?!

Why?!”

“Apologize!

You have to apologize!!

If you knew that method, why did you eat the instant death rabbit raw!!

Apologize!!!”

“Sto, stooop!

It’s a pain!”

“Apologize!!

You have to apologize!!”

Aren’t you a fool?!

You ate like that because you were too lazy to cook?!

You don’t even carry food?!

It’s an insult to the food culture that mankind has built up so far!

Are you a hero?

You’re not a hero, are you!?

“Ugh…

Dominicus…

Purpure is bullying me…”

“You reap what you sow.”

Maeve sniffled for no reason.

“Anyway…

sniffle, I thought there was a reason why Purpure was so good at cooking.”

There was no great reason.

Even when I was a successful demon lord, I was always dissatisfied with the food of this world.

No!

It’s not just a simple complaint about food, they serve things that are truly inedible and call it food!

I just wanted to eat something more delicious.

Food saves lives.

You shouldn’t just think about filling your stomach, Purpure thinks that’s

“
not right…”

Was this answer enough for Maeve?

She looked at me with a strangely proud expression.

“Then you don’t have to worry.

These days, there are really, really a lot of delicious things!”

“I can’t believe it if Sister Maeve says it.”

“I, it’s true!!”

There’s no way humans who eat poisonous mushrooms raw and eat instant death rabbits without preparing them know what’s delicious.

In the first place, they’re fools who said you couldn’t even eat Potake.

-Grrrrrrr!

-Grrrrrrr!

“Awawa…”

Maeve’s and my stomachs growled embarrassingly at the same time.

It was as if they were having a conversation, with the growling sounds alternating.

Dominicus smiled slightly at the sight.

“Ah, talking about food made me hungry…”

“Purpure is also hungry.”

We both looked up at the sky at the same time.

There’s still some time left before sunset.

“We don’t have any food.

So I think we should start looking for it now.”

“That’s a good idea.

We can look for food after we settle down.”

Dominicus pointed to a large rock with his finger.

“How about over there?

Purpure.”

“I think it’s good.”

It doesn’t look like an animal’s nest, and there are hills and rocks to block the wind, so it looks perfect.

“Okay!

Then Purpure and the Saint, please wait here?”

I instinctively refused to let go of Maeve’s neck with both hands.

“Huh?

Huh?

Purpure?

Why?”

“No.

Sister Maeve will definitely bring back something strange!”

“It’s not like that, okay?

I’ll hunt a proper edible animal and bring it back!”

“I can’t believe those words!

Purpure will watch, so do it in front of Purpure!!”

If I’m not careful, I might have to eat a strange whole roasted monster today.

I definitely don’t want that!

In the first place, my tongue will melt if I eat it!

“Wa, wait!

Okay!

Okay!

Let’s go together!”

Only after hearing Maeve’s confirmation did I come down to the ground.

“So what were you planning to catch, Sister Maeve?”

“It’s good to dream big, you know?”

Maeve straightened her back and puffed out her chest.

“A deer!”

“……Purpure will starve today.”

“Ah, no, why?!

I can catch a deer!

I can catch it!”

“How can you catch a deer without a bow?!”

“Because I’m a hero!”

Maeve smiled brightly and tapped her chest.

“Just trust this Sister Maeve!

Today is a deer party!

Purpure should be the one to worry~ you’ll be struggling to prepare all of that!”

I could clearly see the future of running around like a caveman for half a day trying to catch a deer.

“Awawa…”

I knew it!

While following Maeve, I should catch a few ‘Marshmallows’ and take them with me.

Since it’s an animal that tastes like marshmallows, Maeve probably won’t complain about it.