Chapter 41

"Saint-sama"

"Can you please stop calling me 'Saint'? Everyone is starting to copy it!"

Today, Mr. No Life King came to visit again.

Well, talking with him is fun, so it’s okay if he comes every day.

"I have a souvenir for you, Saint-sama."

He’s still calling me 'Saint-sama,' huh.

And a souvenir?

Actually, I’ve been receiving so many things from him that I’m starting to feel a bit guilty.

What is it this time?

"Didn’t you say before that you wanted a bird that lays eggs? I thought about whether there might be a bird-like monster in my dungeon that could serve a similar purpose."

Yes, I did say that.

In my pioneering life, there are still many things I lack.

One of them, in the food category, is eggs.

Eggs are delicious, right?

They broaden the range of dishes you can make.

With vegetables, meat, and seasonings all in place, eggs are indeed the next thing I need.

And to have a stable supply of eggs, I need chickens that lay them.

But this is a fantasy world.

I’m not even sure if the chickens I know exist here.

So I’ve been searching among the monsters that nest in the dungeon for one with a chicken-like ecology, just like how the horned boar served as a substitute for pork.

My wives, Plati and Viel, have also organized an expedition to search for a chicken-like monster, exploring the dungeon rather than a hidden realm.

So they’re not here today.

They’ve been running around the dungeon every day.

"Upon hearing that, I thought about whether there might be a monster in my dungeon that would suit your needs, Saint-sama."

"Do you mean in your cave dungeon?"

There are two dungeons adjacent to my settlement so far.

The cave dungeon that Mr. No Life King manages and the mountain dungeon that Viel manages.

If there were bird-like monsters, they would most likely be in the mountain dungeon, so Plati and Viel have been exploring there.

"There is one that fits the description."

And Mr. No Life King takes out a bird.

"Wow!"

In terms of size and silhouette, it’s definitely a chicken!

This looks promising!

...But then.

"This is a monster called Yoshamo. Despite being a bird, it can’t fly, which is why it appeared in my dungeon."

"Ah."

...I realized something.

There’s a feature of this chicken-like monster, Yoshamo, that I can’t ignore.

"But Mr. No Life King,"

"Yes?"

"Doesn’t this one have a comb?"

A comb.

The red thing on a chicken’s head.

Since it’s a chicken, it’s normal to have a comb, right?

I think so too.

However, when I think of a chicken with a comb...

"Is it a rooster...!?"

It’s a male chicken, right?

What I need is a chicken that lays eggs, which is definitely a female, so a hen.

Just as I was thinking that, the Yoshamo, which looks like a chicken, suddenly turned its back to me.

...

...Don’t show me your anus.

...Wait, isn’t it a cloaca for birds?

Then, something suddenly came out of that hole.

It was a light brown, spherical... egg?

An egg!

This thing, despite having a comb, is laying eggs!

Thinking about it, the pseudo-biological monsters that spawn in the dungeon, being pseudo, lack the ability to reproduce and therefore have no distinction between male and female.

Since they don’t need to reproduce, having both male and female characteristics is not a problem.

But why is it laying eggs if it doesn’t need to reproduce? That’s a question, but it doesn’t matter!

The fact that eggs can be supplied steadily is what’s important!

As I held the egg like a treasure in both hands, the Yoshamo came up to me.

...This chicken-like creature.

Upon closer inspection, it has a face like a grappler.

Suddenly, the Yoshamo kicked with its talons!

"Ow!?"

It wasn’t aiming at me.

More accurately, it was aiming at the egg I was holding, which it had just laid.

The egg was split in two by the sharp talon kick, and the contents spilled out. Conveniently, the yolk and white spread neatly on a plate below.

"This is...!"

The yolk is almost perfectly spherical, with a color more orange than yellow.

The white is as clear as water.

"Should I try it?"

When I asked, the Yoshamo nodded.

Taking him up on his offer, I sucked the raw egg directly from the plate.

I’m originally Japanese, so I can eat raw eggs.

"Delicious...!"

I immediately decided to take five of these from Mr. No Life King’s dungeon.

* * *

Mr. No Life King left.

When Plati and Viel returned from the mountain dungeon, exhausted, they were completely floored by the news.

"To think the one we were looking for was in the cave dungeon...! All our efforts running around the mountain dungeon...!"

"Grr! The mountain dungeon is completely useless! Maybe it’s influenced by its master’s personality!"

"Hey! If that’s the case, I won’t let you eat any of the square boars from my mountain!"

They’ve become so close that they can bicker like this...

But I won’t let the fighting kids eat the scrambled eggs made from the fresh Yoshamo eggs.

...

They loved it.

Even though their efforts were in vain, the taste must have been especially moving for Plati and Viel, who had been running around the mountain dungeon for this.

However, now I’m starting to want a frying pan specifically for making omelets.