After finishing his talk with the chef, Vertis treated Rimuru and her companions to a al.
It was his first ti hosting guests, so he had been at a loss over how to entertain them. Fortunately, Rimuru was an otherworlder from Earth just like him, so he focused on serving dishes that would feel familiar to her.
There was fried chicken, pork cutlet, and other foods anyone might have tried at least once. On top of that, fresh fish was sliced into sashimi or made into sushi, and the dishes the chefs prepared were brought straight to the table one after another.
Seeing the happy look on Rimuru's face, I let out a sigh of relief. It seed the food suited her taste.
The special liquor I'd been saving for today, along with dishes made from spices imported from across the sea and carefully selected ingredients, earned high praise from her companions as well.
"What is this?"
In the middle of the al, Shuna pointed at the drink poured into the glass in front of her.
"That? It's a drink called cola. Give it a try."
"Oh... how fascinating."
Shuna seed intrigued by the black liquid and the bubbles rising through it. Fair enough. I'd gone through quite a bit of trouble trying to recreate cola as closely as possible.
I searched the seas for a tree similar to a cola tree, made carbonated water from its extract and components, and after plenty of trial and error, created this imitation cola with what turned out to be the ideal additives.
It didn't have the exact sweetness of real cola, but I had perfectly reproduced that sharp, fizzy bite unique to carbonated drinks. That was because I'd added a trace amount of poison to the mixture.
Shuna's face twisted the mont she swallowed a mouthful of cola.
Cough...?!
"Oh, I forgot to ntion it. It's got a bit of a bite."
"Khk... You should have told that first! There aren't any side effects, are there?"
"If there were, I wouldn't have served it. Still, it tastes good, doesn't it?"
"It was sweet, but... this prickling sensation is a little unpleasant."
"Really? So people live for that fizzy feeling, you know."
At my words, Shuna looked at like that was impossible to believe.
Of course, so of the dishes were fiery in a much more literal sense. Benimaru took a bite of the ran, red enough to look dangerous at a glance.
"That one's probably pretty spicy..."
"No need to worry. I can handle spicy food better than I look."
Well, I'd warned him. That was on him.
Benimaru took a big bite. Spicy food always hit with a delay. First it let you taste it, then it ca crashing down on the back of your head and your tongue like an aftershock.
For the record, that dish had also been refined as far as possible to preserve the original flavor. The base was made from alkaloids extracted from peppers imported from across the sea, mixed with several dangerous powders in the perfect ratio. The chef's sense of taste had gone numb for a while during the process, but that was a small price to pay.
"Mm, this is goo..."
Benimaru suddenly flinched and couldn't finish his sentence.
There it is. It hit.
"..."
Benimaru abruptly fell silent.
"...It's delicious."
"Benimaru? What's wrong?"
Finding his reaction strange, Gobuta called out from beside him. When he got no answer, he seed to wonder if the dish was the cause and took a huge bite himself.
And then...
Bzzzt!!
Gobuta toppled backward on the spot, as if an electric current had run through his whole body. It was a kind of agony completely different from what he felt when eating Shion's cooking, but no less devastating.
"W-water! Is there any water?!"
Gobuta's eyes went wide as he desperately searched for sothing to drink. Beside him, Benimaru sat perfectly still with the expression of a man contemplating the void.
Unlike ordinary resistance, this sensation spread through the entire body, so things like heat resistance were utterly useless. The spicy flavor flooded his whole mouth.
Souei, sitting across from them, tried so out of curiosity as well. He showed no reaction at all, so I thought he was fine, but when I spoke to him, it turned out he was only pretending to be unaffected.
Was it really that spicy? It seed fine to ...
"How pathetic, all of you! Can you really call yourselves those who serve Rimuru if this is enough to defeat you?!"
Unable to stand the sight of the n embarrassing themselves, Shion stepped in personally and shoved a mouthful of noodles from the plate beside her straight into her mouth.
"What is this? It's not even that spicy. If anything, it's quite tas..."
She flinched.
Shion's body gave a violent shudder, and realizing what was happening, I quietly set an entire container of water beside her.
"W-wait... what, what is this?"
"What's wrong, Shion?"
"Sp-spicy... It's spicy!!!"
Shion shouted as if real flas were about to burst from her mouth. Then, with crazed eyes, she grabbed the container beside her and drained it in an instant.
"It's spicyyyyy! Spicy! I said it's spicy!"
Writhing in pain, Shion finally bolted off sowhere. Rimuru, watching the scene, looked more than a little frightened, and I scratched my head awkwardly.
"Hmm... I may need to tone down the spice a little."
**
As ti passed, the trouble in the dining hall gradually settled down. Even so, a faint trace of the heat still lingered in everyone's mouths.
"So where are we going?"
Rimuru asked about our destination, but I kept walking without looking at her.
"Listen carefully. Don't tell anyone about the place we're about to visit. It's one of my country's highest-level secrets."
Following behind Vertis, Rimuru and the others soon found a giant iron gate standing before them.
When I let my magicules flow into the gate, the tightly sealed doors opened, and the sight beyond them left Rimuru's group speechless.
It was a vast machine city. There were enormous structures made entirely of machinery, and all through the city, golems of many different forms patrolled the streets. Among them were quite a few humanoid golems as well.
"This is the machine area, the very core of this city."
Just as Vertis said, this region was filled with all kinds of golems unlike anything they had seen before. Their forms and appearances varied, but most shared two traits: they walked on two legs like humans, and they moved independently.
They worked in all sorts of fields, from combat to industry. Places too dangerous or inaccessible for a bare body to reach posed no problem for them. This place also served as the factory where those golems were built.
A place where science and magic existed in harmony. That was what this place was.
Of course, I'd already dealt with the sort of risk you saw in movies, where the machines suddenly rebelled.
More importantly, Eve, the one who oversaw this entire area, was strong enough that calling her the mightiest being here would hardly be an exaggeration. In practice, the mont anyone set foot inside, they entered Mother's detection range.
"And so monsters co here to replace parts of their bodies with machinery."
"Replace parts of their bodies with machines? Why would they do that?"
When Rimuru asked, Vertis answered with a question of his own.
"Rimuru. Do you understand the suffering of the weak?"
"...Huh?"
"Let ask you sothing. Between monsters and humans, which do you think is stronger?"
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Rimuru reflexively blinked in confusion, but after a mont's thought, she gave her answer.
"Monsters are stronger, aren't they?"
"A careful answer. From a human perspective, monsters are certainly threatening. They have tough bodies, sharp claws, and many of them possess nurous skills. Of course, there are exceptions. But that doesn't an every monster is strong. Who in the world would want a body made of machinery? And yet there are those who still want to beco stronger badly enough to go that far. Can you understand how people like that feel?"
At those words, Rimuru couldn't answer easily. She too belonged to those, like Vertis, who had been born strong.
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