Chapter 7

It has been a week since Caucasus evolved .

Since then, Caucasus has continued hunting everyday with vigour, which resulted in him bringing back a plethora of spoils from his battles .

Thanks to that, the contents of my storage magic are increasing rapidly .

As my storage magic is able to access the space used by both my previous life as well as my current one, I should be able to manage it somehow…though if I wasn’t a reincarnator, my storage would be pressed for space right about now .

While Caucasus was acting as he pleased in this manner, I was working hard in creating the ingredients required to make Beast Jelly .

This past week, I have been absorbed in collecting gelatin .

Although I have only been single-mindedly repeating the task of extracting gelatin from the wyvern’s carcass……as I have finally gathered a decent amount, it should be about time to move on to real jelly making .

First, I’ll take everything that Caucasus has hunted this past week out of my storage magic, including the unused bits from the wyvern’s gelatin extraction .

Following that, I shall chant a spell .

[Oh Qilin, appear before me… form with me a trade of mutual benefits] (Varius)

Soon after… a bright light poured out from a point in the sky . A deer-shaped apparition sporting the face of a dragon, the tail of an ox, and hooves of a horse – in other words, the Qilin has appeared .

[Thy wish, awakening materials or flavourings[1], what be it?] (Qilin)

The Qilin’s voice resonated in my head, speaking directly to my mind .

I called it for the sake of gathering the raw materials for Beast Jelly after all, so my reply was obvious .

[The flavourings . ] (Varius)

[Is that so . Then…the offerings thou hast prepared, hand it over . ] (Qilin)

As the Qilin declared, a spot in space distorted .

It’s all right to throw the offerings…in other words, the monsters’ carcass, into it .

I took the spoils from Caucasus’s battles that I had taken out earlier using storage magic, and threw them into the distortion one after the other .

Once that was done, the Qilin signalled me .

[Thy offerings, have certainly been received…In return, the items thou wishest for shall be placed here . Farewell] (Qilin)

The Qilin’s figure vanished .

In its place, two bottles appeared .

If I remember correctly… the one with the blue cap should be Beast Glutamic Acid, while the one with a red cap should be Beast Inosinic Acid .

At any rate, by mixing these into a monster’s meal, the seasoning that monsters would be addicted to will be completed .

……All right, now that all the required materials are present, time to make the jelly .

I placed the gelatin and the flavourings into hot water, and stirred the mixture until it is completely mixed before putting the fire out .

As a finishing touch, I casted freezing magic to solidify the jelly .

[… . . It’s done!] (Varius)

I stored the solidified, completed product using storage magic and made a small guts pose .

With this, I have solved the pressing matter of Caucasus’ food problems .

As I no longer have anything in particular to do, I took a nap while waiting for Caucasus’ return .

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[Varius! There are 2 things you need to be informed of today!] (Caucasus)

Caucasus exclaimed excitedly the moment he returned .

I’m the one who wants to inform though…but well, guess I’ll listen to what he has to say first .

[What is it?] (Varius)

[First one, this book was dropped along the side of some road!]

Caucasus threw a slightly dirty book held between his horns over to me .

Yare yare[2]…I thought as I caught the book .

Caucasus doesn’t just hunt monsters, he sometimes brings back lost items such as this… although 8 or 9 times out of 10 it turns out to be just thrash .

Well, it’s rare that he would treat the things he handed over with such care, so I casted cleaning magic on it for the time being and to determine what kind of book it was .

[The First Choice, Non-negotiable…?][3] (Varius)

That was the title of the book .

Curious as to the contents of the book, I flipped the pages .

Then…once I understood what the contents were, a smile naturally formed on my face .

[Caucasus, thank you! You were a big help this time . ] (Varius)

The book that Caucasus brought back — [The First Choice, Non-negotiable] — contains 15 years’ worth of Elite Academy’s past entrance exam questions .

With this in my possession, I will be able to efficiently study for the exam .

In other words, my chances of being accepted had dramatically increased .

Yosh, I’ll report this to Carmel-sama in the near future .

I made up my mind .

… . Which reminds me, Caucasus had said that there were [two things I needed to be informed of] .

What was the other one?

I faced Caucasus with that in mind…and what entered my eyes was a single fly-like monster resting on Caucasus’ wings .

If I remember correctly, that is… .

[As for the other matter, this me have made a partner!] (Caucasus)

……As I thought!

While I was thinking, the fly monster greeted me using telepathy .

[Yo . I am the king of flies, as well Caucasus-aniki’s pal… . . Beelzebub! I’ll be in your care from now on, yeah?] (Belzebub)

[…Ah, yeah . Please take care of me too . ] (Varius)

……That Caucasus, he partnered up with a Belzebub huh?

Although I had heard that, once in a blue moon, beetle-type monster would partner up with an insect-type monster[4]…to think that it would happen with my monster…

But well, I wholly welcome the addition of Beelzebub as a comrade .

As Belzebub is capable of inflicting status abnormalities upon enemy monsters as well as increasing Caucasus’ defense, Caucasus’ range of activities would increase .

There was no reason not to welcome it .

[Actually, I have some good news as well . ] (Varius)

As I informed the both of them, I took the Beast Jelly out using storage magic .

[I made this today . It should be seasoned to match both your tastes . To celebrate Belzebub’s addition as well…please eat to your heart’s content!] (Varius)

Caucasus started off by stuffing his cheeks vigorously .

Seeing his actions, Belzebub who at first looked at the Beast Jelly as if it was something weird, decided to join in on the meal .

[This……This is! This food texture is truly the best!] (Belzebub)

[Awesome… . . Caucasus’s master, to be able to make something this delicious…]

Looks like it was received favourably .

While feeling satisfied my tamed monsters’ response, I began reading [The First Choice, Non-negotiable] while reminiscing on my past life’s entrance exam period .