Tandoori & Friendly [Part 3]
“O-Our territory’s hunter on watch duty today has confirmed a monster appearance near the area!!! The one who appeared is a very dangerous kind among monsters… Your life is in danger!”
It was already late by the time they sighted it. Lord of Skyte thought this campsite would have already turned into a picture of hell by the time the watchman hunter saw that and reported it. But when he arrived, he found that the campsite was completely safe and sound, maybe because the monster wasn’t feeling that hungry.
He could only think of it as a miracle, but there was no way this good luck would last long.
‘I have to have them evacuate asap,’ the Lord of Skyte was desperate.
“Monster appearance… Moreover, a dangerous kind?”
The Skyte Barony’s hunters were on the lookout for the surroundings, looking very cornered.
The lord was sweating and panting after galloping his horse here at full speed.
The lord’s son was standing behind him with a firm face.
“This is the worst of the worst life-threatening emergency,” tension filled the campsite.
“Y-Yes!! It’s a bird-type monster called [roc]! It glides high above the air, making it difficult to detect, and snatches humans into the sky in a blink of an eye! *gasp!* Everyone! Duck your head and hide in the shade of the trees! Avoid being targeted from the sky as much as possible…? What’s wrong?! Hurry and find shelter!”
For some reason, the more the Lord of Skyte shouted, the more the students at the campsite looked puzzled.
Is the crisis management ability of the Royal Capital’s noble children this low? The lord was more scared for them than angry.
“…roc?”
‘No, it’s not just the noble children,’ the lord thought as he looked at the king, who asked again with a blank expression.
“…*hiss!!* Yes! It’s [roc]! If you are snatched by it, your corpse won’t even look presentable for the funeral!”
Roc would drop the human it snatched from a high altitude repeatedly until the body reached the desired softness before eating. Even if they collected the corpse, it would be nothing but shattered pieces of bones or bits of meat. They couldn’t possibly let this country’s king turn into such a miserable state.
Despite the lord’s worries, the king before him was still freezing in place absent-mindedly.
“Roc… bird?”
The king looked at the bird meat in his hand.
“Roc…?”
The king turned around, looked at the Stuart family, and raised the bird meat he was holding.
“ “ “ “ “ “Roc.” ” ” ” ” ”
The family, who stood behind the king while wondering what happened, answered with a deep nod.
“Right?” the king nodded again and turned to face the Lord of Skyte.
“Yeah… Baron Skyte? This is roc.”
He brought the bird meat forward for the lord to see and pointed at it with his other hand.
“Huh?”
“This is roc.”
“Huh? …Roc?”
“Roc.”
This bizarre sight of the king and the lord alternately saying [roc] would continue for a while.
“Eh??? …Roc? Eh? Eh? EH?”
The lord couldn’t make any sense out of it.
‘What is the king trying to say?
Why is he holding meat now, in this situation?
Why is he showing that meat to me now, in this situation?
Why is he pointing at that meat now, in this situation?’
“Pfft! HAHA, oh, I can’t… Hehe, my stomach hurts! Pfft, hahaha…”
The easily-amused Arthur writhed with trembling shoulders.
“Don’t laugh, Arthur. It’s rude.”
“B-But, Your Highness. Pfft, this is—! Fu, haha, t-they don’t seem to be on the same wavelength at all…”
“Nii-sama! Just shut it already!”
Arthur couldn’t stop once he started laughing. The person himself tried really hard to hold in his laughter, but even if he got scolded by the prince or told to shut up by his sister, he couldn’t hold it in after seeing the king and the lord being stuck on saying roc back and forth.
“Haah.” Prince Edward sighed and moved in front of the Lord of Skyte. His father, the king, was not very articulate at times. He was the type who would carry things forward with vigor, and the detailed follow-ups were up to the queen, his older brother, and himself.
