Chapter 243: Feeling Down...

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"............"

I was troubled, looking down at the street from the rooftop while light snow fluttered.

What was at the end of my gaze... was a food stall.

A food stall that grills meat.

On the roof of that food stall, there was an illustration of a beast with yellow and black spotted pattern, three pairs of legs, and two pairs of wings.

In other words, it was a food stall that served Mekena meat.

As expected, there it was, a local specialty dish using Mekena meat!

It's called "Mekena Sandwich".

It's an extremely simple specialty of grilling Mekena steak and sandwiching it between reddish bread, but even without eating it, I knew... that it would definitely be delicious.

I mean, Mekena meat looks exactly like beef, but they sandwich that steak in bread, you know?

You get it?

Extra-sama, do you get it?

Do you understand what I'm excited about?

In my previous life, I hardly got to eat delicious food.

But I had the desire to eat it.

I had a fierce desire.

So, in my previous life, I never failed to do image training where I desperately observed my "family" eating something that looked delicious from outside the window, imagining what kind of taste and texture it had, and feeling like I had eaten it!

In that process, I had seen dishes where something like grilled chicken was sandwiched in bread, but I had never seen a dish where a beef steak was sandwiched in bread!

I've seen hamburger steak or roast beef being sandwiched.

But not steak.

Do you know why?

I don't know if this is the correct answer, but I think it's because beef is tough.

Beef steak is tough enough that you have to eat it with a knife and fork.

In other words, I understood that it couldn't be a sandwich-type dish that you have to bite through with your own teeth and jaw.

But Mekena seems to be different!

Although it looks exactly like a beef steak, the stall owner sandwiches it in bread without any hesitation.

And people walking by stuff their cheeks with it with a smile!

In other words, Mekena meat is!

Softer than I imagined!!

What about the taste!?

What does it taste like!?

I'm curious, I'm curious, I'm so curious~~~!!

<If you're that curious, instead of mumbling here, why don't you just go and eat it?>

Extra-sama made a calm retort to me, who was writhing on the rooftop.

"............"

But you know...

What I remember is that windy town where I met Kamasse.

There, in the end, I wasn't allowed to shop because I was a black-haired, black-eyed ominous person.

It's probably the same in this town, right?

This world is abnormally harsh towards black-haired, black-eyed humans.

<Then, let's become friends with that stall owner! Gradually close the distance and ultimately build a relationship where he'll sell you the meat!>

........................I don't want to.

I don't want to become friends with weak humans anymore.

...Because they die quickly.

<Then, let's kill that stall owner and steal the meat!>

That's too extreme!!

It's extreme to have only two choices, to become friends or to kill, Extra-sama!!

Why do you so easily try to lead me down the path of being an enemy of humanity, Extra-sama!?

<I'm sorry... As for me, as long as Emi is fine, I have no interest in what happens to other creatures...>

You're really troublesome... I want you to learn common sense.

<I don't want to hear that from Emi.>

Ah, but that's right.

Before worrying about whether a cursed child can buy that Mekena Sandwich, there was one more problem to begin with.

<What is it?>

I'm completely penniless, so I can't go shopping in the first place...

<In a way, the futility of the conversation up to this point is rushing back all at once.>

* * *

For the time being, after fully enjoying the smell of the Mekena Sandwich, I left the food stall and was strolling around the town of Serelirin while hopping and jumping on the rooftops.

As a result, I found out that this town has a lot of pigeons.

So my stomach was somewhat satisfied, but this is no different from the meals I eat in the forest...

I want to eat something that has been touched by human hands more...

Today's weather in the town of Serelirin is cloudy.

Gray clouds spread all over the sky, and even though it's daytime, it's dark.

My mood is also somehow dark and depressed.

...Haah.

I lie down on the roof of someone's house and sigh.

I feel stupid for being so excited earlier, thinking it was a town I hadn't been to in a while.

Recently, I've been getting along well with everyone at the forest base, so I thought I would surely get along well in this town too.

I thought so before entering the town, but...

When I'm actually faced with a crowd of people, I hesitate to act among them, to show myself in front of them.

If I were to show myself in public now, would I be accepted?

How would I be seen?

Surely, as an ominous cursed child.

And a dirty vagrant.

<Moreover, as a Dark Spiky Rock Man.>

There's no way I'd be accepted...

Ah, geez...

Maybe I should just leave this town...

I looked up at the cloudy sky with a sense of resignation and sighed.

But that's when it happened!

Extra-sama scolded me!

<Why are you getting discouraged! Don't you want to eat delicious things in this town!?>

Extra-sama...

<The Emi I know should be a stronger child! A brave child who has defeated even the biggest monsters! I'm not telling you to run away, but you should still be able to do more! That's what I think!>

Extra-sama...!

<Let's do our best, Emi! Let's eat lots of delicious things! It's too early to give up!>

Extra-sama...!!

<Now! With a glimmer of hope, open the lid of the garbage can! Let's scavenge for leftovers!>

...I don't want to!!!

Aaah, geez!!

I'm done!!!

My heart is completely broken!!!

Enough already!!

I don't care about this town!!

I'm leaving!!

I'm leaving now!!!

<Eh! W-Wait, Emi! I'm sorry! I went too far with that bad joke just now!!>

Extra-sama is saying something, but I don't care anymore.

I jump up, run along the rooftops, and start heading out of town.

<But Emi! I really think it's too early to give up! I mean, you haven't even shown yourself in public once today! Giving up before doing anything is such a waste!>

Shut up!

Shut up!

I don't care about Extra-sama anymore!

What do you mean, "Let's scavenge for leftovers!"!?

<I said I'm sorry! But in the end, that might be unavoidable, right!?>

It's not unavoidable!!

It's different from digging up the ground and eating insects!!

<Eh!? Is it different!?>

Geez, this is the first big fight between me and Extra-sama in a while.

While arguing loudly in my head, I was running on the rooftops at a tremendous speed.

That was a mistake.

Because I was in such a distracted state.

I accidentally lost my footing and fell off the roof.

I fell upside down from the roof to the stone pavement of the alley.

The momentum was so tremendous that my head sank into the stone pavement up to my forehead upon impact.

It went "boing" like an arrow stuck in a target.

I've trained my core, you know.

When it goes "boing", it can stay "boing" for a while.

Of course, such an impact won't damage my beautiful girl face.

It's the stone pavement that shatters.

I'm really sorry, stone pavement.

Anyway, the point is.

Since I suddenly fell from the roof to the ground, I was so surprised that I froze in the "boing" posture.

But there was someone in this place who was even more surprised than me.

It was a passing boy who was walking down the street when an extremely beautiful girl fell from above and witnessed the moment she got stuck in the ground in front of him.

The boy, who had completely lost his strength and fallen on his bottom due to the sudden event, was a round, short-haired boy with a certain charm.

However, for me, such things didn't matter.

My gaze was fixed on the red, stick-like thing he was holding in his hand.

From that red, stick-like thing, a fishy, delicious smell was emitted.

My superhuman fantasy sense of smell had already determined that that thing was undoubtedly delicious.

The boy, staring at the beautiful girl Dark Spiky Rock Man stuck in the ground while losing strength in his legs.

Me, stuck in the ground in a "boing" posture, staring at the red, stick-like thing the boy was holding.

There were no other passersby around.

We were both silent.

A strange silence continued for a few seconds.