Piggy, and Orcma. A secret organization of pig beastmen that prevents people from eating pork. Beastmen and meat. The various conflicts surrounding Ende.
It was highly interesting information, but there was one thing more important than that. My diet.
Knowing that even delivery food could get me stabbed, I was too anxious to order anything. But the thought of not eating meat was depressing enough on its own. Above all, with the regressor keeping a watchful eye on the finances, I couldn't just roam around buying and eating beef to my heart's content.
Was there no restaurant just for me that was delicious, safe, and offered a different menu every time?
I shook my head at my own pointless thoughts.
That would basically be hiring a personal chef. That was only possible if I were royalty or had wealth comparable to the regressor. It was impossible for someone like me, living off an allowance from the regressor.
Huh? Wait a minute. Come to think of it, the regressor was eating like that, wasn't he? With that Manhan Quanxi or whatever it was.
Using something so great all by himself? I couldn't let that stand. We were comrades now, so we should share. I sidled up to the regressor.
"Mr. Shay."
"What? If you're asking for money again, tell me what you're going to use it for and bring back a receipt later."
The regressor, who had been sitting at the desk writing something, answered irritably. So cold-hearted.
"Do I look like some beast who just begs for allowance the moment I open my mouth? It's not that, it's about something else."
"Something else? Do you have a strategy to deal with the Wolf King?"
"No. Not that."
"That's useless. We don't have time for that right now."
The regressor tapped the letter paper with his pen as he spoke.
"Do you know what the Wolf King is searching for?"
"Of course I know. It's Azi, isn't it?"
"Right. The Wolf King searches for the Dog King. That's why the Dog King wanders the world, seeking out people to stand against the wolf with him. The current Dog King, Azi, went to the Military Nation, and the Military Nation deceived him and threw him into the Abyss. Do you know why?"
Who are you asking? I'm the King of Humans, you know? Even if you know the future through regression, do you think you know better than the very party to the promise?
"Because they were afraid the Wolf King would come looking for him."
"...You know well. The Abyss is a completely different dimension cursed by the Earth Mother Goddess. Once Azi disappeared, the Wolf King lost his trail and was left wandering in circles. That's why the Wolf King has been prowling the southern Enger Plains for so long."
"And?"
"Still don't get it? It's only a matter of time before the Wolf King marches all the way here!"
The Wolf King instinctively seeks out the Dog King. The Dog King, too, only searches for humans to aid him; he doesn't avoid the Wolf King. Even unintentionally, the two kings inevitably meet, fight, and kill each other.
It was an event bound to happen once Azi entered Ende. But... wasn't that something everyone already knew?
"Why is that? You planned it this way, Mr. Shay. To use the power of Ende."
Ende was the city with the longest-standing conflict with the Wolf King. It had fences to keep the wolves out, powerful traps, and plenty of robust beastmen. Being closest to the threat, they were always ready for battle.
Truthfully, that was why I hadn't bothered to work. The city of Ende had originally developed to fight the wolves in times of crisis. There was no need for me to intervene.
'Sigh. This is something that's hard to explain without regression or foresight. Should I say it's to stimulate Hughes' sense of crisis...?'
Is there still something you're hiding? Well, looking at you, it seems you just forgot rather than intentionally hiding it.
The regressor cautiously brought it up.
"This is confidential, but... actually, Ende has a hidden problem."
"Wow. You're really amazing, Mr. Shay. You were locked up in the Abyss for over half a year, and before that you were busy collecting all sorts of treasures and learning Qigong. Yet you know the confidential information of a frontier city in the Enger Plains?"
At a loss for words, the regressor snapped irritably.
"...Fine! I heard it from the City God Temple. Are you satisfied now?"
"So you finally confess. Are you just throwing caution to the wind now?"
"You were the one who doubted me first! Just listen!"
Tch. This wouldn't have happened if Tir was around. Lacking any means to discipline him right now, I quietly sat down in front of the regressor and listened.
"Right. Because this city is on the border, there were originally a lot of beastmen, but after the wolf threat emerged, humans gradually began to pull out. There are still plenty of humans left, but now it's reached the point where it's virtually a beastmen autonomous region."
It certainly looked that way. The most common sight since arriving here was beastmen, and they were actively engaged in economic activities. In other countries, beastmen couldn't engage in economic activities this vigorously.
The Military Nation exploited beastmen just the same, the Allied Nations' economy itself was ruined, and the Principalities treated both beastmen and humans equally as livestock.
...Now that I think about it, the countries I've visited so far rarely brought up the issue of racial discrimination. Well, what's the point of discriminating against each other when you're all in the same gutter?
"But beastmen aren't fools either. It's an open secret that humans are using beastmen as a breakwater. Since they've shed a lot of blood, many beastmen believe they deserve better treatment. Beastmen are taking action to secure more rights for themselves."
More rights? Aha, is that why Piggy created Orcma?
I said it to show off the information I had gathered.
"Like Orcma?"
"Orcs? Pig beastmen? They do make up a considerable number, but pig beastmen aren't the core of it."
The regressor didn't seem to know about Orcma. I lowered my shoulders, which had puffed up slightly in pride.
What? It's not even in the regressor's memories. Then is Orcma really just a gang of petty criminals terrorizing people who eat pork?
"Anyway, some of them... would rather side with the Wolf King to drive out the humans."
"Is that possible? The Wolf King would tear into humans the moment he sees them."
"If they were normal humans. But beastmen are different. Particularly the wolf beastmen known as werewolves—they lead powerful packs under the Wolf King."
No matter how powerful the Wolf King is, there's a limit to how large a beast pack can grow. Having the King of Beasts might prevent their cohesion from weakening, but it doesn't fill their starving stomachs. For a powerful army, logistics becomes a fearsome enemy.
But if there are werewolves beneath him, the story changes. With human intelligence and knowledge, even a beast pack can multiply its numbers.
"The reason I said I was in a hurry is because of them. With the Wolf King on the move, there's no telling what kind of interference they'll cause."
...Compared to that, treating Orcma as a petty gang makes sense. Ah, it was such an interesting issue too. What a shame.
"Do you understand now? The reason I told you to build up a faction was to prepare for when these interferences arise. It's good to have forces that can move freely in times of crisis."
"So there was such a profound meaning behind it. Understood. I'll try to build one."
"Hmph. Only now?"
"A few days will be enough. More importantly, Mr. Shay, I have a question."
"What is it now?"
Talking about Ende all of a sudden made me miss my timing. I finally brought up the main point.
"How do you eat your meals, Mr. Shay?"
"Meals? If nothing's going on, I eat with the Manhan Quanxi."
"Right. What is that?"
'Ah, come to think of it, I haven't shown Hughes the Manhan Quanxi, have I? Then again, I didn't show it in the Abyss, and after that we were always on the move, so we just hastily grabbed our meals.'
"Alright. I'll show you."
The regressor casually opened his pocket dimension. A crack formed in the air, and beyond it rippled a space exclusive to the regressor. After rummaging through it for a moment, he pulled out a covered dish.
"I have the Manhan Quanxi. It's a treasure that automatically cooks as long as you supply it with ingredients."
When he opened the lid, the dish was completely empty. The regressor closed the lid again and gently pressed the handle. Ding. A small bell chimed, and the lid began to tremble, puffing out steam.
The trembling soon subsided. The regressor opened the lid once more. Inside, a piece of meat glazed with layers of soy sauce seasoning lay on the dish.
"Huh? What is this! Did you just use magic?"
"The Manhan Quanxi. It's merely a single dish, but put in ingredients and it produces ten thousand different dishes. It's a relic created by a royal chef who had mastered even ancient unique demonic arts, made so he could continue presenting meals to the Emperor even after death."
What an extravagant relic. Wait a minute. Then does that mean the reason I never saw you eating in the Abyss was because...
"You've been holed up in your room all gloomy, eating delicious meals all by yourself this whole time?!"
"Gloomy? The Manhan Quanxi can only make one dish at a time anyway. It doesn't cook well if you're moving around, and once it's done, you have to wait for the lid to cool down."
"All you had to do was wait a bit! I was filling my starving stomach by barely prying open a single can of food! You were filling your belly with delicious food all by yourself, yet you complained when we ordered delivery?!"
"W-why are you getting so worked up? It's not like I didn't give you money for food. I wasn't telling you not to eat, I was telling you to eat while doing some work."
I almost died eating that delivered food, you know! You selfish bastard. If you had such a stable food source, you should have shared it. You didn't even consider sharing with anyone else!
Azi, who had approached at some point, was also blinking as he stared at the dish.
"I'm starting to doubt whether you actually consider us your comrades, Mr. Shay."
"Woof! Monopoly! Bad! Sharing! Good!"
"Food is a critical issue. To hide it all to yourself just because you didn't want to share..."
"Woof woof woof! Smells delicious! Awooo! I'm hungry!"
"Ugh, fine! Will you be happy if I give you one dish?!"
'It doesn't matter if I give them some since the ingredients are piled like a mountain in my pocket anyway. I just didn't tell them because I was afraid they'd annoyingly keep asking me to make it.'
If it doesn't matter, you should have shared it sooner! The world runs so inefficiently because of cheapskates like you!
The regressor took out some ingredients from his pocket, placed them on the dish, and activated the Manhan Quanxi again. It didn't seem like he put in any special ingredients, but after passing through the treasure, they were reborn into a royal dish of thinly sliced, lightly blanched meat rolled with vegetables.
"Here."
"Woof!"
"Azi. Don't you dare eat from the same dish. Can't you see I gave that for the human?"
I pushed Azi away as he shoved his face right in, but two pieces of the meat roll had already vanished into his mouth. I stuffed the meat rolls into my mouth while clamping Azi's mouth shut so he couldn't eat any more.
It was delicious.
It looked simple on the outside, but the lightly sprinkled spices and fresh vegetables maximized the flavor of the ingredients. From the texture to the aroma, the pure skill behind it was outstanding. It was on a completely different level from restaurants that just threw in meat and bones and boiled them into a mess. Was this the power of the treasure?
As if bewitched, my fingers sought out the next meat roll, only to scratch at an empty dish. Did Azi already eat it? No, there wasn't much to begin with. Hardly enough to stick on someone's nose, yet it put on such airs as a royal chef's dish.
This just makes me hungrier. I was fiddling with the dish out of sheer regret when the regressor spoke, looking completely unsurprised.
"See? It's not enough."
...So what? I asked in sheer disbelief.
"Why are you acting so smug, as if you did a good deed? Are you saying you won't share anymore and will just eat it alone because sharing is too stingy? Good grief. Do you really lack even the most basic social skills? Why don't you just fall to corruption already?"
"Woof woof! I barely felt a thing! More!"
"No, Azi. You can't have any more. There are vegetables mixed in, and it's seasoned, so it'll upset a dog's stomach."
"Woof! I'm an omnivore!"
"You usually don't even glance at vegetables, and now you're playing the omnivore card?"
It really is a bit too meager to share. Next time, I'll have to ditch Azi and eat alone. While I was locked in a war of nerves with Azi, waiting for the next dish, the regressor stopped his work and stared at the two of us with pity.
"Making a racket over something so trivial."
'Food is just for replenishing nutrients anyway, so I don't see why you have to act like this.'
If that's how you feel, give me the Manhan Quanxi and go out to buy your own food! You're so full you're acting all high and mighty!
Regardless of my inner thoughts, the regressor was as carefree as could be. Watching Azi and me bicker, the regressor smiled—a smile so faint it was nearly invisible.
'...Eating together isn't so bad, either.'